The Lost Guardians
by necroneox3d
Summary: A stranger has come to Konoha, what could this man possibly have to do with Naruto and the Kyuubi, and is he friend or foe?
1. Chapter 1

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow**

**Author's Note:** Hello all you Naruto fans. I'm writing a fic about Naruto mainly because I'm hooked on the series and I've hit a small barrier with my other works. So...please bare with me if the dialouge is not perfect or some of the spellings aren't the same as the series. See ya!

The country of fire, one of the strongest and most powerful countries on the mainland.As a result of this power its hidden village mirrored its power and prestige. Konoha, the hidden village of leaves, is the country of fire's village that hosts it ninja forces. Unfortunately, because of this fact most of the other hidden villages feel that Konoha has be come too big for its own good. It was because of these feeling that a missing nin called Orochimaru could launch an attack that was meant to destroy Konoha. However, Konoha was more powerful than most were lead to think and the attack only crippled the village.

After the attempted destruction of the village by Orochimaru, which had all but failed, the people of Konoha united to rebuild the decimated village with vigor. Little did the villagers or the ninja organization know that a new evil was rising from the shadows, and it was poising itself to strikeout at all the hidden villages and their people.

Standing at the gates of Konaha was a strange man. He seemed to be watching the traffic pass in and out of the village while he wore a nostalgic look on his face. Seeming to be reliving a past memory, he stood still staring at the mountain in the distance while taking several deep sighs. Before the stranger knew it, a young man appeared out of no where wearing an outfit that was probably common for gate guards of the village. However, the strange man noticed that the guard also wore a forehead protector on his arm, which symbolized that he was also a ninja of Konoha.

"Good day," said the young man as he approached the stranger with a wary look in his eyes, "Do you have some business in our village? Have you come to request help?" As the young man asked these questions he looked the stranger over. The man wore a red tunic which was cinched off with two pouch belts, one over his left shoulder and the other at his waist. His black pants were secured at the ankles with bandages, as a ninja would do, but he wore no outward symbol of his alliance to a particular country. On top of that, the man had a brown cloak, which he used to cover himself when he noticed the young mans interrogation of his appearance, while the large wicker hat that he had on his head seemed to hide his face quite well.

"You could say that…" the stranger spoke in a gravely voice, "…I'm looking for an old acquaintance."

The young ninja didn't believe the man, but he wasn't about to deny him either, "If you're looking for someone then you should try going through the proper channels of communication, otherwise I can't let you in."

A small chuckle emanated from under the strangers hat as he said, "I guess it can't be helped." The stranger quickly reached into one of his pouches with such speed that the ninja felt slow as he opened his leg pouch and drew his kunai. However, as the young ninja brought up his weapon and faced the stranger his expression turned to confusion as the stranger held a piece of paper in his hand and presented it to him.

Striding forward slowly the ninja took the paper from the strangers hand and blinked in surprise when he opened the paper. There in front of the ninja was a hand written personal summons by none other than the deceased third Hokage. Choking, the guard started to stammer as he handed the piece of paper back to the man and quickly moved out of the man's way.

Smiling underneath his wicker hat the man nodded once and began to slowly enter the village while slipping the note, which quickly transformed back into a blank sheet of paper when he was out of the line of the ninjas sight, in one of his pockets. '_Honestly_,' thought the stranger as he walked down the main road of Konoha, '_a Genin as a gate guard? Orochimaru's attack must have weakened this village even more than I predicted_.'

Several minutes later…sliding past several nosy villagers who didn't even try to hide the fact that they were staring at him, the stranger tried to gain his bearings by looking at the mountain while sighing, as he quietly whispered to himself in anger, "Just how _big_ did this dirt-ball village get?"

Waking up to the annoying buzz of the alarm clock from a near by night stand was definitely not the highlight of a certain blonde haired ninja's day. Slapping at the device and then hurling the offending device across the room into his laundry bin, the boy yawned loudly as he rubbed the back of his hand across his face and wipe some of the drool from his chin. Staring at the worn oak wooden floors of his humble room Uzumaki Naruto was contemplating whether he should go back to sleep or eat breakfast.

After several minutes of hanging between indecision Naruto stood up, yawned and pulled off his covers. After taking a quick shower and making himself a small cup of ramen and red bean broth, Naruto sat down and just began to eat his breakfast when several really hard knocks came from his door and a voice that he was very familiar with shouted, "Naruto! Wake up, damn it!"

Huffing his displeasure at being bothered as he was about to eat his breakfast he shouted back, "Leave me alone! I'm eating! Go ahead without me!"

"Idiot! Don't make me come in there!" yelled out the voice that Naruto knew was attached to the name and face of Haruna Sakura; Naruto's companion, boyhood crush, and friend.

Sighing deeply and staring at his ramen Naruto went to the front door and opened it only to reveal a teenaged pink haired ninja girl shaking her fists at the door while looking as if she was about to kick it in. "Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto with a quizzical look on his face.

"I'm here," said Sakura with a smile and a glint in her eyes, "to make sure that you make it to the meeting place on time."

"But Kakashi-sensei is just going to be late as usual," said Naruto as he threw open his door and walked back into his room grumbling in discontent.

Sakura was shocked at Naruto's frankness and his silent invite to his room. Seeing that she had only been in his room once or twice she had never been long enough to really "see" the place that Naruto called home. Walking in, she remembered the humble surroundings and the furnishings that Naruto had. A small bed stood in the corner of the room by the window while a simple table, that looked as if it had been fished out of a garbage dumpster was sitting in the middle of the room with a white table cloth. The sink was filled with plates and empty ramen cups. Turning her head to scan the room she saw something that surprised her. Sitting on a well made shelve was all of Naruto's ninja equipment. The equipment was well maintained and polished as was his clothing which hung in his closet. Something else caught Sakura's attention as well, on one of the shelves next to Sasuke's forehead protector was a piece of a mask and a needle that she remembered from the battle with Zabuza and Haku. Next to those items were a blank chunin exam sheet and a small clear bottle of sand. Sakura shivered uncontrollably as she began to remember the battle that she wasn't present at because she was knocked out and slowly being crushed by sands that were controlled by…

"Gaara," Sakura said softly, which wasn't loud enough to alert Naruto. Not understanding why he would keep these mementos, she turned her gaze on three round balls sitting on his shelves. Test each one she found out that they were a water balloon, normal balloon, and a rubber ball. '_What's he doing with those_?' she pondered, as Naruto finished his ramen and stated to get ready.

What she had seen was bothering Sakura as the two walked out of Naruto's apartment. She had never known Naruto to keep trophies, but it wasn't just the trophies that she was thinking about. She had never said anything to Naruto, mainly because she had never really been "inside" his room, but she had noticed that out of all the apartments his looked the most in disrepair. Now that she had a good look, she noticed that the door to his apartment squeaked, his windows were cracked and moldy, the floor was old and looked as if it was in need of a quick replacement, and she didn't even want to talk about the kitchen.

Yet, as the two walked down the dirt towards their meeting place with Kakashi-sensei, Sakura couldn't help but notice that Naruto seemed to be oblivious to it all while keeping a positive attitude and happy smile.

"Hey, Sakura-chan? Do you think that Kakashi-sensei has a good mission for us," asked Naruto with his hands folded behind his head. Looking up at the sky Naruto spoke softly as if thinking deeply about something and said, "Maybe it'll have something to do with Orochimaru or Sasuke."

Hearing those names always made Sakura shiver slightly, as emotions and memories ran through her. "Who knows," said Sakura with as much of a level voice as she could muster without seeming on the verge of tears.

He might not be the brightest ninja, but Naruto wasn't completely dense. His ears had caught the slight inflection in Sakura's voice, which told him to back away from the subject and pursue another line of thinking. "Um…Sakura?"

"Yes," answered Sakura while rubbing her eyes free of the wetness she found there.

"What kind of training have you and Tsunade-sama been doing?" he asked uncertainly, not sure if Sakura wanted to talk about it.

"That? Well, that's a secret Naruto. And I'm not telling," Sakura laughed as Naruto's mouth hung open before he went on ranting loudly that "holding information from your teammate is not in the best interest of teamwork", to which she answered him by sticking out her tongue and running towards the meeting place while laughing.

Slowly, a smile spread over Naruto's face as he took off after Sakura all the while yelling something along the lines of "no fair". Deep down, Naruto was happy that he could make Sakura smile even if it is only for a short while.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow**

**Author's Note:** Hello again! Here is the next install ment of my fanfic. Sorry about the fact that this chapter is all about Kakashi, but I feel that copy-boy should have some problems as well...I think it makes him more human. Well, I hope you enjoy! Bye!

**CHAPTER 2 - Run! Kakashi! Run!**

Hatake Kakashi had been having 'one of those days'. You know...the ones where anything that _can_ go wrong _does_ go wrong. It all started with him waking up and finding that his usual, and favorite, mask had various irreparable burn marks in them. '_Never again_,' Kakashi growled to himself as he remembered the intense training that he and the blonde ninja had gone through yesterday, which ended with him teaching Naruto a fire element ninjitsu and his mask catching fire. Allowing a small sigh to slip from his lips, Kakashi walked over to a modest oak dresser and opened a small drawer only to find that the only spare mask he owned was the one that Sakura had given him for his birthday.

Growling out a curse at Naruto, he sighing deeply while thinking of all the trouble that he be going through today as he slipped on the crimson red mask. The next of Kakashi's so called 'troubles' was something that he usually didn't have much to worry about. Rubbing his hands through his silver grey hair, Kakashi plucked his forehead protector off the table and wrapped the cloth around his head while trying to get it to support his hair so that it would stand straight up. However, for some reason, the silver-grey hair wasn't obeying his command and hung limply around his forehead protector.

Releasing an uncharacteristic growl, Kakashi marched himself to the bathroom and stared at his visage in the mirror. Since his hair wasn't cooperating with him, he decidedly pushed it out of his eyes and made due with what he had.

Thinking that all his troubles were done, Kakashi walked the length of his wooden floors and ended up in front of his closet. Opening the sliding door, he found a pair of black pants and put them on. After taping his ankles he went to reach for his forest green vest only to find his protective body armor and a black shirt. Hanging his head, he remembered that he had taken in his vest for repairs, only to be told that there were no replacements available. '_Great_," he thought while slipping the snug body armor and shirt over his head. Walking into the bath room once more he could only shake his head as he gazed at his reflection in the mirror. "Who are you?" said Kakashi with a deep sigh.

Taking another five minutes gathering his ninja gear, Kakashi then began his journey to the Hokage's office. Making his way down the street while mumbling something about having an "idiot for a student". Kakashi wondered briefly if he should be worried about his current run of "bad luck", but instead he pulled out an old edition of "Make Out Violence" and began reading as he walked down the street.

On the other side of town, near a small crystal clear stream and short red bridge, a certain blonde ninja was having a sneezing fit at the moment. "Achoo, Achoo, Achoo!" Naruto sneezed while trying to stifle the fit by holding his nose. As tears began to form around his eyes Sakura looked over at him and said in a 'know-it-all' voice, "Someone must be talking about you."

"You think?" Naruto replied sarcastically, between sneezes while hoisting himself up on the rail of the bridge.

Sakura smiled at Naruto's pouting face, while her inner-self laughed long and hard while saying, '_Idiot! It's probably someone who you've played a prank on._' At that moment Naruto sneezed loudly and Sakura couldn't help but giggle softly, while earning herself a piercing glare from her teammate.

Looking up at the sky Naruto groaned as he stated, "He's late again."

Normally...the 'copy ninja' of Konoha usually showed up late to any appointment that was given to him and would usually come up with an excuse for said lateness. However, today was one day that Kakashi "wished" he could be 'on time'.

It had all started the moment he left his apartment building. An normal day would consist of Kakashi taking a leisurely stroll down one of Konoha's main roads, as he made his way to the Hokage's office for morning mission assignments. Though it seemed that today was keeping up with its currently theme of 'bad luck'.

He was on his third block when he felt 'them' again. 'Them' was referring to the watchful eyes of several women and girls that he had passed by. Being a genius, ex-ANBU and one of the current top jounin of Konoha, Kakashi began to feel a bit uneasy with this level of attention. So he went about trying to analyze what was going on, only to find that his limp hair was once again covering his only 'normal' eye. Sighing he pushed the hair out of his face only to feel a surge of attention and watchful eyes gravitate to him in accordance with this action.

When the words 'lickable', 'hottie', and many other colorful adjectives began to assault his precious ears. Kakashi quickly took to the roofs, trying to avoid the small crowd that had begun to follow him on his route, only to find that among the small throng of women were several kunoichi who followed his lead. What surprised him even more was the fact that they kept up with him, and weren't fooled by some of his better tricks.

'_Wonderful, now I feel like Sasuke_!' thought the grey haired ninja as he quickly performed an advance genjitsu, which managed to thin the following group of kunoichi down to two. Both women were chunin who had been trying to get into a jounin promotion, and he knew both women by name. The pale blue haired woman with similar eyes was Mitsuru Yasumi a rather bright kunoichi with all the makings of a jounin except that she was a bit on the reckless side. Following right behind her, in a rather stunning outfit, was none other than Inuko Nami, a pretty kunoichi who seemed to be destined to become a spy.

Seeing that the two were not giving up, Kakashi sighed and jumped down waiting for them to catch up. When the two finally jumped down to meet him on the ground Kakashi asked politely, "Can I help you?"

Seeing the blush of Nami's face confirmed Kakashi's fears, and while he cursed his current 'look' Yasumi took her chance to say, "Um...I was wondering...Kakashi-kun? Are you doing anything tonight?"

It took a millisecond to register that sentence in his brain, but the shock of being called that name almost sent Kakashi reeling backwards in fright. Luckily, Kakashi was the master of the 'expressionless face' and commanded his body not to move of his own accord. Brushing his annoying hair out of his eye, yet again, he watched as both women seemed to eye him hungrily while they waited for his answer. Sighing inwardly, Kakashi lifted up his hand and lie through his teeth as nicely as he could, "I can be sure but I think I going to be with my team_ all day long_."

Both women looked at the ground with a little dejection. However, Nami brightened up as she said in a loud voice, "He's working all day everyone!" Just then a loud series of groans all erupted around him as many kunoichi began appearing from every which way, all of them frowning and grumbling their disapproval of the situation. Kakashi's eye twitched as he thought, '_When did they get here_?'

"We'll see you tomorrow then!" said one bright eyed genin girl as she took another look at Kakashi and squealed happily while bouncing away.

Looking up at the sky, while pushing the hair out of his eye, Kakashi said in an even tone that held only the slightest of anger, "Someone up there hates me." Shrugging his shoulders in exasperation, Kakashi sped up his trip to the Hokage's office.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow**

**Author's Note's: **Hello everyone! I hope you've liked my fanfic. Here is a new installment, sorry about the speed that I'm going at but as it is I do't have much time to spare. Uh...thank you everyone who has reviewed this fic. I'm trying to respond to any questions thatare posed to me in the reviews, so I'm sorry if I haven't to you I'll just have to try harder.

**CHAPTER 3 - Rumors and Fights**

Standing at the gates of the large red edifice, a man wearing a straw hat and a brown cloak looked up and chuckled to himself as he said, "It hasn't changed a bit." His eye scanned the dome like structure with its crown-like spires that jutted from the very top of the bright red building. "Looks like they finally got around to painting it," he said in amusement as his eyes slowly scanned each of the buildings windows. His vision finally fell upon the giant symbol that adorned the location and stated as to what country this village served under.

"Hn, fire," the man said with almost an audible sneer in his voice while he strolled towards the building and disappeared in a blur of light.

"I'm telling you the truth!" said Kurenai as she walked slowly over to a wall which held a large wooden filing system with individual slots that had a name on each of them. Sliding over to a section of the wall and reaching her hand into one of the slots she pulled out three green folders.

"I still don't get it," said a dark brown haired woman, who wore a black kimono with under armor and had a pile of different colored folders in her hands, as she looked back and forth between the female jounin and her cigarette smoking partner.

"Maybe he just decided to change his routine," said the aforementioned partner as he reached into his slot and pulled out one yellow folder.

"Don't give me that, Asuma. You know better than I do that he has _never_ change his so called 'cool' look." said Kurenai while she shook her finger at him.

"Cool look?" repeated the third person in confusion while stuffing more folders into different slots.

"I'm not saying that I doubt you," Asuma said while opening his folder and frowning, "I'd just like to confirm it with my eyes, that's all."

"Arrrggghh! Will someone tell me what's going on!" cried out the kimono wearing woman as she completed her assignment.

"Sorry about that Shizune." said Kurenai with an apologetic smile as she sat at one of the table in the large room while the others mimicked her movements, "While I was making my way to the main building, I happened to hear from some friends of mine..."

"In other words," Asuma said with a playful smirk while he brought his fingers up to simulate quotation marks, "she means 'the rumor mill'." Kurenai fixed a deadly stare on Asuma, who at the moment feigned ignorance as he looked out a window and whistled a happy tune.

"As I was saying...my friend told me that a certain grey haired ninja was currently being stalked by half of Konoha's female population, all because he had come out of his apartment looking like...these are my friends words not mine...'an all you can eat buffet'." Kurenai smiled as she thought about her friend and how, because she was on a diet, everything seemed to be food orientated with her.

"No," said Shizune with a surprised look, "Kakashi-sama doesn't seem like the kind of person that would do something like that 'just for kicks'."

"See!" Asuma said to the jounin kunoichi sitting across from him, "Even Shizune is having a hard time believing this rumor."

Glaring hard at Shizune as if saying 'why did you do that', Kurenai said patiently while locking on her blazing death glare at her bearded compatriot, "I'm not say it true! I'm just saying that it's what I heard!"

Suddenly shocked gasps and whispers started to pass through the other ninjas that were present in the room as a young chuunin woman came in with a mouth full of drool and babbling something about a 'hottie ninja' coming this way. The clamor that the woman had cause was something that didn't go unnoticed by the three who had been talking about this subject.

Asuma sat there smoking his cigarette and staring at Kurenai, while Shizune turned her head to hear more about what they were talking about. However, the three didn't need to strain themselves as a certain grey haired jounin slid into the room as quietly while causing a scene that had most everyone in either shock or surprise.

"Oh my," said Shizune while trying to keep the blush from her face, as her eyes took in the copy ninja's new look. Just the fact that his shirt was sleeveless, and so tight that it seemed to be a second skin, was enough to make most women give him a second 'once over' with their bulging eyeballs. However, add in to the equation his new colored mask — which drew attention to his face — and his new hair style, and you have a seriously dire situation forming around a person who usually liked his 'peace and quiet'.

Kakashi passed the table that the three sat and marched himself to the wall where assignments were. Passing by he managed to ground out a disheartened, "Yo." Making it to the wall he seemed to groan loudly as several kunoichi were seen fighting over who would give him red folder that was obviously his mission. Displaying stealth and speed that was way beyond jounin level, Kakashi retrieved his folder from the chaotic scene and then walked over to where Asuma, Kurenai, and Shizune were sitting.

Flopping down in the chair Kakashi just shook his head as Asuma pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and opened his mouth to say something, "Not now," said the grey haired jounin, then growled softly to himself as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.

Asmua could only put his cigarette back into his mouth as a chuckle worked his way up his throat threatening to escape on its own. Snorting lightly, Asuma looked over at the other two at the table, and was mildly surprised that both women were blushing while they gazed at the ninja in front of them.

Suddenly, another jounin appeared at the table in a puff of smoke. This jounin was currently making the senbon in his mouth twitch as he said in a relaxed manner, "Kakas...whoa!" The jounin looked at Kakashi with a mixture of disbelief and mirth as he tried to steady his grin into a more neutral frown. Genma, as Kakashi knew him, then said with as little humor as he could manage while still chewing on his senbon, "Geez, Kakashi. What's with the new look?"

All it took was that comment, as both Asuma and several other male jounin snorted loudly while managing to keep their laughter to themselves. "Do you need something, Genni?" asked Kakashi in an quiet but irritated voice, while he managed to keep a pleasant face.

Just that name alone was enough to stop Genma in his tracks. He had hated that nickname since he was little and had hoped that everyone would have forgotten it by now. However, it seemed that one person had not, and at the moment this conniving person was using it as leverage. Grumbling something under his breath the sanbon chewing jounin tried to save face as he said in clipped tones before turning around and disappearing into smoke, "Hokage-sama would like to have a word with you three. You are to meet her in her office as soon as possible."

"Crap," said Asuma with a groan, "this it going to be troublesome."

"Watch it, Asmua," said Kurenai as she stood up and swapped folders with the bearded jounin, "You're beginning to sound like Shikamaru."

"It can't be helped," said Asuma as he stood up and looked over the three green folders in his hands while he shrugged his shoulders, "every time she calls us its usually to tells us something bad."

Shizune was watching the two across from her with little more that shock as she said, "Hey, wait! Those folders are not to be traded around!"

Kurenai smiled as she smirked at Asuma and explained, "We're not trading missions...it's more like 'borrowing'."

"But, but, but, but, but, but," said Shizune like a broken engine, with worry clearly working its way into her eyes, "Tunade-sama will have my head if she knows you are trading...um...borrowing each others missions."

Kakashi sighed as he once again had to push his hair out of his eye, and was gripping his kunai with the intent to shear off his bangs, when Asuma said in the pairs defense, "What the Hokage doesn't know won't hurt her, will it?"

"Um..." interrupted Kakashi while looking at the room, which mysteriously had started to fill with more and more female ninjas than he was comfortable with, "...do you think we could continue this discussion in the Hokage's office?"

Looking around, Asuma began to notice the gravity of the situation that Kakashi was currently in and nodded in agreement as he, Shizune and Kurenai all left the mission room quick and with out incident.

"What did we do to deserve this?" cried Naruto as he sat, pouting, on the bright red planks of the bridge that both he and his teammate stood on. Sakura could only shake her head as she was thinking the same thought, though much more quietly.

So far Naruto had tried discussed his training regiment with her, and had been going on about the new flavor of ramen he was trying to create in his spare time...along with finding Sasuke. However, now matter how hard he tried he could seem to keep his focus, as his eyes kept moving up to the usual spot that Kakashi-sensei would appear on. After his eighth try at explaining his new ramen flavor, he collapsed on the bridge yelling out in frustration and pouting.

"He usually not this late," Sakura said while looking in the sky for a sign from their teacher.

"Probably reading his perverted, naughty novel," said Naruto with another disapproving huff, while his pink haired kunoichi teammate could only sighed while she picked up a pebble off the bridge and threw it into the small stream down below with an audible splash.

"_Leader_!" cried a young shrill voice from just beyond the market down the road.

Naruto stood up with a quickness that even startled Sakura as she watched him run to the end of the bridge and look around while trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Suddenly stopping his head from swiveling around, he seemed to be hearing something that she herself couldn't hear.

Without a word, Naruto leaped into the air and landed on a lamp post with practiced ease as he again leaped into the air and landed on a rooftop running. Sakura only had time to blink once and think, "_What's going on?_" before she was following Naruto and barely keeping up.

They didn't travel far as they made their way down the stretch of road. There they spotted a little girl with bright ginger hair panting on the side of the dusty street. The girl wore a crimson overcoat along with khaki pants and a light pink top. Her hair was pulled into two short pig tails and adorning her forehead were a pair of green goggles. "Leader," she kept saying even though it was no more than a whisper. Jumping off the edge of the roof Naruto ran up to the little girl while saying in a worried voice, "Moegi? What's wrong Moegi?"

By the looks of it, Moegi was exhausted from running a long distance thought Naruto as he looked at her panting and wheezing. Reaching into his hip-pack he pulled out a small bottle of water and gave it to her as he flashed a worried look in Sakura's direction. Nodding her head Sakura placed her hands on Moegi's back all the while summoning a small amount of healing chakra to her hand to ease the little girl's discomfort.

Moegi's breathing slowed as the pain in her chest subsided and when she took a drink of water she was all but calm as Sakura asked, "Tell's us what's wrong, Moegi."

Suddenly the little girl's eye shot straight open as she remembered what she was originally sent out for, "Konohamaru! Udon! Leader, you have to save them!"

"EH!" Naruto yelled as he looked at Moegi in confusion, "What's wrong with them?"

"No time," Moegi said as she grabbed Naruto by the wrist and began to drag him down the road. With a quick movement, Naruto lifted Moegi onto his back and said with out any complaint, "Point the way!"

Again Sakura hand no time except to blink once, as she was 'again' trying to keep up with the orange blur in front of her.

Naruto followed Moegi's directions to a tee and found that they ended up at the academy training grounds. "There!" said Moegi, pointing to a small group of boys standing over a smaller boy in blue, who seemed to be huddled up in fear. Another small boy, who wore a blue scarf and yellow shirt, was yelling at the top of his lungs and kicking his feet as an older boy gripped the front of his shirt hoisting him into the air.

"Hey! It looks like 'young master' needs a little lesson in manners," the older boy said sarcastically while throwing the little boy to the ground, laughing with his friends as the boy looked about ready to cry.

"That's right," another boy with a stocking cap said with a sneer, "looks like you don't have you gramps to help you up anymore!"

"Moegi," Naruto said with a growl at the disgusting display, "stay with Sakura-chan. I'll be back soon."

Walking out of the shade of the tree that they were under, Naruto walked slowly over to the boys. "That's right you bastard," Naruto said in his loudest voice that he could manage while walking over to the younger boy as the four older boy all seemed to be looking at him in disdain. "He has me! And as far as I'm concerned that's all he needs to take care of you scum!"

"Naruto Onii-chan!" cried Konohamaru with hope surging back into his eyes, as he stood up nursing his scrapped arm. Across the way, Udon got up quickly and got behind the two as the four boy backed up.

"Are you all right Udon?" asked Naruto as he received a nod of the head as well as a positive hum from the light brown haired boy with glasses.

"Looks like 'young master' still has some followers," the biggest boy in the small gang said with anger as he signaled the others in his gang to grab their wooden kendo sticks from their sides. "You should have stayed out of this blondie! He worth just about as much as his old fart of a grandfather was!"

In the shadows of the tree that she and Mogei were sharing, Sakura gasped as she heard those words coming from the burly young boy.

The wind blew across the training field and Naruto's jacket ruffled with it as he looked up from Konohamaru and said with a angry growl that made some of the boys in the gang take a step back, "I'm only going to say this once...so listen up!"

Turning an furious glare at the boys Naruto snapped in anger, "ANYONE, AND I MEAN ANYONE! Whobad mouthsthe old man, deserves to get their face caved in by me, UZUMAKI NARUTO!" That proclamation made the gang of boys angry as they all came rushing in, Naruto quickly pulled out his kunai and managed to deflect an over head slash from two of the boys. Dodging another attack he told both Udon and Konohamaru where Sakura and Moegi were, and waited as the two boys extracted themselves from the fight.

As soon as the two were safely behind Sakura, Naruto leapt high into the air as he crossed his fingers while saying, "Kage bushin no jutsu!" Suddenly six more Naruto's appeared out of no where, and when they landed they looked up in unison and said, "I thought that five on one was a little unfair so I decided to make everything fair again."

Most of the boys were now staring in shock as they now registered in their pea brains that this boys was a full fledge ninja. Two of the boys tried to run but were quickly intercepted and knocked out by fairly non-lethal punches to the face. The other three were watching as the boy in the orange jacket came closer while cracking his knuckles and saying, "Good night."

A cloud of dust rose into the air as Naruto fought with the other three boys and when the dust cleared, sure enough, each of the disrespectful boys were face down eating dirt while Naruto stood up dusting himself off and grinning back at them.

Walking back to the bridge where they were suppose to be waiting for their jounin teacher, Naruto asked, "Hey, Konohamaru? Why were those numbskulls picking on you two in the first place?"

"They wanted us to pay them for training on their field," said Konohamaru in anger, "and when we said that we didn't have any money they began to take Udon's backpack and lunch. I could let them do that, but I wasn't strong enough and..." Konohamaru looked at the ground in frustration while Udon and Moegi tried to make him feel better.

Just before they got to the bridge Naruto spoke up and said, "You did good, Konohamaru."

"But I didn't...," Konohamaru started to say with a hint of sadness tinting his voice.

"Did you stay by your friend's side?" asked Naruto while looking at the bridge in the distance.

Sakura watched as the little boy looked up, with wetness in his eyes, at his role model and nodded in affirmation. She then saw Naruto smile, nod and say in a serious tone, "Then you did _really _good. Never let your friends down, Konohamaru. They are just as much a part of you as you are to them." Putting his hand on top of Konohamaru's head Naruto said his goodbye's and walked back to the bridge in silence.

Sakura watched as he sat down and whined about him being Hokage before Kakashi would be 'on time'. Smiling, Sakura seemed to be finding out more and more about Konoha 'nosiest number one ninja at surprising people', and what she saw today was that he had a heart that was always beating for other people as well as for himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow **

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! How are you all doing! I'm doing okay, even though my writing time is severly limited. I just got finished with the fourth chapter to this fic. Please forgive me if their ar typos and the like in the fic, seeing as I've just got though with it I wanted it posted a.s.a.p. Anywho, I hope you enjoy my ideas and I hope you all can give me some reviews! Thank you very much! See ya! Enjoy!

**CHAPTER 4 - The Unusual Request**

Sitting in quiet in her comfortable chair, the Fifth Hokage seemed to be glaring at a stack of paperwork that stood on her desk while she wished desperately that it would just burst into flames. Sighing she leaned back slowly while saying to no one in particular, "This job sucks."

"Then why did you take it?" replied a amused voice from just outside her window, as her eyes quickly move in the direction that the voice had come only to reveal a white haired man balancing on the edge of the open window in her office. The older man wore a red vest that covered his grey-green ninja clothes, and if a person looked closer they would occasionally see a chain mail under armor peeking out from underneath the other clothing.

"If I recall, someone else wasn't 'man' enough to deal with the responsibility," shot back the Fifth as her visitor gave her a sincere smile and let himself into the office without another word. When he closed the window his face dropped his smile as he looked over to the Fifth, his eyes asking a question that didn't need to be said.

"I felt it too," said the Gondaime as she placed her elbows on the desk in front of her and look at the oak door of her office as if expecting a visitor at any moment. "Jiraiya? Do you know why he has come?" the blonde Hokage asked without so much as giving away any facial expressions.

"I have no idea," Jiraiya said with little more than a shrug from his shoulders, "but I have a guess and can think of someone that it might involve. Tsunade...we should warn..." What every Jiraiya was going to say was cut off by the fifth's raised hand.

Tsunade turned her head and looked at Jiraiya and asked, "Do you think we can defeat him?"

It was a simple question. Yet the answer seemed so elusive for the legendary sannin as he crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling with what seemed to be worry. After some time in deep thought, Jiraiya looked at his feet while saying in low tones, "No...not even Sarutobi-sensei nor Kiniro could best him...we could stand a chance, but one of us would probably die in the battle."

Tsunade went back to focusing her eyes back on the desk as the sound of several barely audible jounin foot steps could be sensed padding down the hallway, but what baffled her was the sound that followed the jounin as she thought to herself, '_A stampede_?'

Just outside the door to the Hokage's office two ANBU ninjas stood guard, they noticed a small group of several jounin coming up the steps from the previous floor with what looked like a small crowd following them. The ANBU quickly began to restrain the crowd as they let the other ninjas pass. However, the ANBU in the hawk mask turned his head to get a better look at one of the jounin who looked sort of like Kakashi only to have his partner yell at him when the crowd of angry women began shouting their protests.

The jounin quickly made their exit as they opened the door to the Hokage's office only to be greeted by two very somber sannin, who looked to be thinking over some pressing matter. "Tsunade-sama?" called out Shizune to her mentor as they entered the Hokage's office and stood before her. Everyone watched as the Gondiame looked up from her desk and focused her eyes in confusion at the people who had just entered her room.

Kurenai took this time to say, "Genma informed us that you wanted a word with us." For a moment everyone stood looking at each other while the currently Hokage's brow furrowed in recollection.

"Yes," she finally said as if some sort of idea had pierce her brain, turning her eyes towards the other sannin she gave him a nod that seemed to have some hidden meaning. The white haired sannin sighed as he shrugged his shoulders and nodded back. "Kurenai. Asuma. I want you two to send out a hawk to your students. Have them meet you out side this building and wait for further instruction. I'll be reassigning your missions to someone else." said the blonde haired Hokage with an air of finality that stopped cold any questions that the two jounin were ready to pose. Turning her attention on Kakashi and his so called 'new look', she completely surprised everyone as she passed over the opportunity to 'poke fun' at her verbal sparing partner by saying in low serious tones, "Kakashi. Bring your students to my office for assignment...Kurenai, Asuma...after you are finished signaling you groups, I want you to accompany him as well."

That statement opened a few eyes in surprise and worry, as the three jounin looked at each other and nodded their acknowledgment to their leader. Kurenai and Asuma both vanished in puffs of smoke as they went to give the message to their teams. Kakashi, however, stayed behind looking at Jiraiya and the Hokage as if waiting for an explanation. Kakashi was surprised when Jiraiya turned his back and Tsunade folded her hands on her desk and closed her eyes. Scrunching his only good eye in suspicion he vanished into smoke, leaving the two sannin and the Hokage's assistant in the now oddly empty room.

"Do you think it wise?" pondered Jiraiya to no one in particular, but striking a nerve with the woman sitting in the high back chair next to him.

"What other course can we take?" Tsunade hissed angrily, as Shizume looked back and forth between the two legendary ninjas while keeping her questions to herself and her mouth shut.

After a lull of silence Jiraiya walked over to the open window in the corner of the office and looked out over the village that he had once called home. "I hope it works," he said softly enough so that only the other sannin in his presence would hear his words.

"I do too," said Tsunade as she started on the large mound of paperwork in front of her, trying to lessen her anxiety as she waited for Kakashi and his team to get back.

Kakashi has already been running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop when both Kurenai and Asuma flanked him. Exchanging worried glances the three were relatively quiet as they made their way to the bridge where Kakashi always met his team. Half way to their destination Asuma growled out in frustration, "What the hell is going on? Why are we being reassigned to gathering out groups at the main building? And why are we accompanying you? I mean...I would think that you're competent enough to handle just about anything that is thrown your way, right? So why are we here?"

"Hokage-sama was worried about something?" stated Kurenai while trying to bait Kakashi into talking about anything he knew.

"They didn't tell me anything," Kakashi said quickly as he jumped in a different direction followed closely by the other jounin.

"See!" said Asuma while taking a deep pull on his cigarette and exhaling the white filmy smoke from his mouth, "What did I say before all this? Troublesome!"

The jounin trio jumped from building to building gradually coming closer to team seven's meeting point. Kakashi tuned out the bickering of the other two jounin were creating, as he thought about today's events and how quickly everything seemed to be happening. There was an almost palpable feeling in the air as he landed on a near by rooftop and ran the length of it only to jump to the next stable roof. This feeling that he was having had some of his highly honed senses for danger twitching madly, and made him feel as if some unknown threat was hanging unseen in the mid-morning air.

"Oi! We're coming up to the bridge," Kakashi said seriously, while the jounin's behind him seemed to still be bickering about some petty subject that Kurenai had brought up. Catching his tone of voice, the two almost instantly mastered their faces into masks of indifference and calmness.

Sakura was at her limit. If Kakashi-sensei wasn't here with in the next ten seconds she was going to murder the obnoxious blonde ninja that was sitting on the bridges rail, feet dangling over the side, complaining about how he could be training or eating ramen or sleeping or finding that Sasuke-bastard instead of waiting for a teacher who has no sense of time and is always late.

It might have been the Sasuke-bastard comment, but Sakura didn't care as she stomped over to the little ninja while cracking her knuckles menacingly, "Naruto, you're..."

"Yo!" came a familiar voice overhead as a series of smoky explosions revealed not only team seven's teacher and leader but two other jounin as well.

Startled a bit at the timing, seeing as she was pulling back ready to hit Naruto with everything she had, she turned around ready to hear one of Kakashi's famous explanations. She gasped when she saw her team leader. '_Who's that_?' she thought as she eyed the newly transformed Kakashi, while her mouth hung open in shock.

'_That's...a tall order of handsome with a dash of mystery_,' said inner Sakura while she drooled over herself.

Naruto, however, wasn't impressed or surprised when he jumped off his perch and said with some amusement, "What? Did they finally find out about your lateness and send some people to make sure you were on time?"

Sakura was about to reprimand Naruto for speaking in such a rude way to the handsome man when something suddenly realized something. '_Lateness? What does that have to...oh my..._' her sudden understanding of who this handsome ninja in front of her might be hit her like a ton of bricks. Blushing in embarrassment and pushing herself to look up, she asked a question that she hoped wouldn't be answered, "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hmmm? What is it Sakura?" replied Kakashi while noticing his subordinates mortified face.

Sakura couldn't speak, she shuddered in embarrassment as she thought about the thoughts that she was thinking. Turning his attention away from Kakashi-sensei Naruto noticed that Sakura had a red face. "Ah, Sakura-chan! You look like you have a fever...let me feel you forehead," said Naruto as he put his hands out to touch his boyhood crush.

Snapping out of her little mental breakdown, Sakura was just in time to see Naruto about to place his hand on her forehead, "What are you doing?" yelled Sakura as she brandished her fist quickly only to have Naruto look at her in confusion.

"What do you mean? I thought you had a fever since you face was so re...hmfffphh," Naruto only managed to get out a few words as Sakura put him in a choke hold to shut him up.

"Never mind that!" said Sakura as she let go of Naruto's neck and let him gasp for air behind her. "You're late!"

"Yeah!" said Naruto weakly as he panted trying to catch his breath.

Kakashi never got enough of this little routine that he and his team had made, it was like a recharging breath of fresh air when he hear his student's voices complaining about his tardiness. Crinkling his one good eye, Kakashi looked at Kurenai and Asuma and said, "Ah, sorry, but you see there was this kid who needed me to get his kite out of a tree and..."

"Liar!" the genin tag team yelled back at him, then suddenly the two traded their angry faces for concerned expressions as they waited to hear what their teacher had to say.

Asuma was staring at the three with a raised eyebrow as he sent a questioning stare at his female counterpart. Kurenai only shook her head as she said, "Kakashi. We should be getting back."

Turning his head and nodding his understanding, Kakashi jumped down from the archway and said, "Gondaime-sama has requested us to meet her in her office for the briefing of our next mission." Although Kakashi had told them that he had a feeling that those were not the Hokage's true intentions, and he still couldn't shake the feeling that something 'bad' was going to happen.

"Alright! Mission time!" yelled Naruto thrusting his fist into the air energetically, before he turned to Kakashi and said in a nonchalantly manner, "You seem different today, Kakashi-sensei. Is it the mask?"

It had taken the three jounin and the two genin several minutes to reach the Hokage's building, mainly because Naruto kept asking Kakashi question about his appearance. Which, in turn, had both Kurenai and Asuma panicking slightly as the intent to kill was slowly increasing with in the grey haired jounin.

Finally reaching the building, the group dropped to the ground and began walking to the main entrance. "Where is he," cried a voice that bore some angry tones in it's loud outburst, "Where is my youthful springtime rival! And why is it that only his wonderfully youthful students are allowed to talked to Hokage-sama?"

"Uh, I think I'll go see if that boy still needs help with that kite," said Kakashi as he tried to slip away from the group. However, as he started to pad silently away he heard another outburst as a voice screamed.

"Ah, Kakashi! My..." the voice stopped dead in its tack while Kakashi winced inwardly at the silence that preceded the pause. Not wanting to turn around, but knowing full well that even if he ran he'd be followed, Kakashi spun on his heel and turned his gaze on his friend and self-appointed rival Maito Gai.

Eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth hanging open in shock, Gai's finger was extended and shaking as he pointed at his rival in disbelief. "I see!" yelled Gai striking a pose that Kakashi knew and feared, as it was the same pose that Gai used to challenge him to their duels, "You are a very clever, rival Kakashi! I can clearly see that you have challenged me to a round of modeling! I accept! Next time we meet I will show you just how 'modern' and 'hip' I can look!"

"Yes I will resurrect the blossoming bud of my youth and display it for all to see!" said Gai as he began to tear up and a sunset with a crashing wave seemed to appear behind him.

"How does he do that?" Naruto asked a stunned and really 'weirded out' Sakura, who just shrugged her shoulders.

Kakashi sighed as Gai disappeared leaving his students behind, and generally drawing more attention to him than he wanted.

Most of the students were surprised at the change of Kakashi's appearance, but they were courteous enough to whispering their confusion to their friends. However, what had Kakashi worried was the giggling that came from the female students as they talked amongst each other.

Naruto and Sakura followed their teacher while he sighed and hung his head. Kakashi walked into the large building as Asuma and Kurenai gathered the others and followed his lead.

When inside Naruto blinked at the scene of controlled chaos, ninja's carrying large stacks of files and other office supplies zipped by the group. Far to the back a whole section of the first floor was outfitted with desks, which seemed to serve as 'check in' station for those who were requesting help as the ninja station at the desks wrote down the request of the customer sitting across from them.

Kakashi signaled for them to keep moving, Naruto began moving again as Sakura nudged him down the corridor. The group came to the stair that would lead them to the Hokage and single file they began to traverse the stairway. However, Naruto used the railing and his ninja skills to traverse the stairwell faster than the others. Seeing this, Kakashi followed after the boy determined to make him wait for the rest of the group. However, when he reached the top his voice left him when he saw Naruto staring at something down the hall. Quickly moving to the boy's side Kakashi saw that the door to the Hokage's office was open and the two ANBU guards, along with Genma, were sprawled on the ground and unconscious.

"Where's Sarutobi?" asked an unfamiliar voice in a demanding tone.

"Why are you here?" Tsunade voice asked calmly as it came from the open doorway.

"Child," said the voice in a patronizing way, "you must know why I'm here. Now stop playing games with me! Where is that old fool who calls himself the Hokage of Konoha."

There was no mistaking it, whoever was in the room was not intimidated one bit by Tsunade's presence. Kakashi whirled around quickly as someone sniffed lightly behind him. Staring into the red eyes of Kurenai, Kakashi quickly made silent hand signals that told the other jounin what he wanted done. Quietly, the other jounin lead the group of genin's silently into a small meeting room.

Kakashi reached out and patted Naruto on his shoulder, while Sakura motioned for the three of them to join the others in the meeting room. However, it seemed that fate wasn't on their said as a voice called out suddenly, "The three of you who are in the hall...come in this room, now!" The voice had a commanding edge to it and had startled the two genin while Kakashi gripped the handle of his kunai tighter.

"If you dot do as I say," threatened the voice, "the three in the hall will suffer because of you."

Grimacing under his mask Kakashi said with a growl while he walked slowly to the office, "Sakura. Naruto. Triangle formation!" said Kakashi, as his team nodded their heads in affirmation as they placed their backs to each other and followed their teacher into the office, while he said, "Keep your guard up!"

The first glance into the room didn't tell Naruto much about the situation as he only saw Tsunade and Jiraiya standing at the desk while keeping their eyes on the intruder. However, when Tsunade spotted him she quickly gave and angry look at Kakashi as he shrugged in an apologetic way. '_What's going on here_? _Why is Tsunade-obachan angry_?' wondered Naruto as he kept in formation with a kunai in hand. Naruto never noticed that Kakashi was using a combination of his body and the current formation to shield him from the strangers gaze when they entered the room.

"Only two," asked the man, his voice showing that he was obviously confused. However, that all changed when he said in a rough voice, "You! In the back! Come out now!"

Naruto slowly walked out in front of his teacher with a unintimidated and angry expression on his face as he looked at the intruder. The man that Naruto saw was sitting in a chair with a straw hat at his side. A brown cloak covered most of the man except his face which was covered by a black mask. However, what startled Naruto was the age of the intruder. The man that was sitting in the seat looked to be the same age as the Sandaime, and though his hair was peppered with gray streaks, his dark golden eyes were shining with vitality.

Unexpectedly, the man stood up quickly, which cause Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Tsunade to position themselves in front of the young boy as the man exclaimed in surprise, "You!"

"What's your name, gaki?" demanded the mysterious ninja while ignoring the presence of the three in front of him.

Not liking the fact that a strange ninja had broken in to the Hokage's office and was now demanding him to tell him his name or that the three people in the room were treating him as if he needed protecting, Naruto puffed out his cheeks saying in an angry and loud voice, "Feh, like I'd tell an old geezer like you."

Jiraiya had to suppress a chuckle as he glance hesitantly back at his pupil and smiled thinking, '_Just like Naruto to act first and think later, if he knew what his man could do maybe he change his tune_.' When the sound of movement hit his ears, Jiraiya turned his head back to a shocking sight. The stranger, who had a moment ago been threatening bodily harm to both Sannin's, wore a stunned expression which quickly turned into a smile that reached his eyes.

"Oh? Is that so?" said the man while he eyed the little boy in front of him, regarding each facial feature with intense concentration.

Naruto began to feel his righteous anger ebb as he fell under the man gaze. He didn't like the way the man's expression softened into a nostalgic look, and it made him take a step back while Tsunade stepped in front of him.

When a body blocked his view of the boy the man looked up at the faces of what seemed to be the boys "protectors". The old man's face became hard again as he said in biting tones, "Where is Sarutobi...this is the last time I'll ask this." Those last words were a threat, as he widened the space between his feet and took an offensive stance.

"He's dead," said Tsunade finally telling the man what he wanted to hear.

"Then our deal is at an end," said the man while he tried to get a glimpse of the blonde haired boy behind the woman ninja.

"We will not give you what you want," said Jiraiya making the man turn his attention to him.

Kakashi was confused to say the least. The way the sannin were talking and by the steady glances the intruder had been giving Naruto, he had begun to think that this "deal" they were talking of had to do something with Naruto, and now that it was "up" the man wanted to take Naruto away. '_That can't be it_," thought Kakashi while feeling a powerful increase in murderous intent emanating from the stranger then dissipating just as quickly.

"You...have no say so in this matter," the man said in a haughtily manner while returning to his seat in the corner. "My deal was with the Sandiame, and him _alone_!"

All this time Sakura was standing to the side of the action as three of the most powerful ninja in Konoha seemed to be trying to protect Naruto from this old man, who seemed to be more than what he looked like. She watched as the man dismissed the frog hermit's words as if they were not even worth the dirt he walked on. The flash of anger in Jiraiya's eyes, and the restraint that he was giving forth seemed to be a testament to just how powerful this man was.

"Then let's make a new one," said Tsunade while loosening up her stance a bit and walking over to her desk. Her eyes seemed to give the other two ally ninjas silent instructions as she sat back in her large, comfortable chair.

Sneering in disgust the man waved his and through the air and said, "What could you possibly offer me that would compare..."

Tsunade interrupted the man by pointing out, "And what if...what you want doesn't want to leave?"

Both Kakashi and Sakura saw the old man's eyes briefly leave Tsunade's gaze and squarely land on Naruto, eyes narrowing at the sannins he asked with some trepidation, "Does the bo...is 'it' aware of the deal?"

"No," Jiraiya said softly, while the stranger's eyes darkened with anger and hate.

Minutes ticked on as everyone in the room watched as the old man closed his eyes. Clasping his hands together, he place them close to himself as he tapped a rhythm with his sandaled foot, while deeply reflecting on the situation. The birds outside the window could be heard chirping their happy song, while a dusty warm breeze brought with it the smells of the market down the street. Children could be heard laughing, and yet when the man opened his eyes the sound of everything seem to disappear with his renewed attention.

"One mission," said the man as he stood, removing his cloak, while revealing the dark brown leather belt pouches around his chest and waist. "You will give me one mission, and allow me the choice of personnel to evaluate this...situation." said the man pulling out a black scroll with a seal on it. Sakura noticed that the seal had a unique design on it, as it looked something akin to swirling whirlpool.

Tossing the scroll over to the Gondaime, everyone watched as she caught it in mid air and opened it . Silence again fell over the office, as Tsunade read the scroll slowly her eyes jumping up and down from sentence to sentence. When she finished, she gave the scroll to Jiraiya and steepled her hands in front of her.

Naruto was completely lost and was beginning to become frustrated as he watched everyone sending glares and talking about something that, he somehow knew, was important.

"This mission is an A-Rank mission and can easily become an S-Rank," stated Tsunade, briefly glance in Naruto direction while the young boy was still staring at the old man in confusion. Kakashi's half lidded eye gauged the intruders reaction as the blonde haired woman said in a clipped manner, "Those missions are off limits to any genin."

Not even a twitch was visible on the mans face as he said in grave tones, "That's not my problem, those are my requirements for this deal. Do you agree to them?" asked the man while golden eyes narrowed dangerously as if saying 'disagree and you won't like the outcome'.

Looking over to the little boy across from her she sighed and nodded once, but quickly spoke up before the older man could do anything rash. "However, as a stipulation," Tsunade said quickly taking over negotiations, "I want one of our jounin to accompany you in this mission, and I want your word that you'll come back when the mission is finished or you get your answer. Do I make myself clear?" The Hokage radiated a powerful aura when she said those last word that even Naruto and Sakura could feel easily.

"Hn, fine," the old man said with a slight sneer showing through his mask. Getting up from his seat and turning his head back to the others he said with a hint of satisfaction coating his voice, "Make sure that you have all the ninja ready for inspection tomorrow, I'll choose who I need at that time. We'll leave immediately for our mission after that."

Without a word the man disappeared into thin air while leaving every one in the office breathing a sigh if relief. All except one person who had stomped his way in front of Jiraiya and said loudly, "Just who was that old fart? And why was he giving me those googly eyes?"

"His name is..." said Jiraiya, while a sudden look of exhaustion came over him as he turned to Tsunade and nodded for her to explain.

"Matsuo Ryuuki," she said quietly swiveling her chair away from everyone while still regarding Naruto from the corner of her eyes. Kakashi's eye opened wide at the information and when he focused his attention on Naruto he seemed to understand something silent secret that the two sannin hadn't explained as of yet.

"Matsu...whatever," said Naruto angrily as he looked at everyone in turn, "When I see him again I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"

"Calm down, Naruto!" said Sakura, who was — for once — confused and annoyed at being kept in the dark about what was going on.

Four people stood for a short while in the office as the Hokage of Konoha, who had been staring at a pile of papers on her desk, chewed on her pen. Pulling the pen from her mouth she looked up into expectant blue eyes as she said, "There will be no missions today. I want you three to relax and get some rest."

"But," Naruto said trying to get a reason for the sudden change.

"That's final!" said Tsunade glaring over his shoulder at the young boy.

Pouting Naruto turned away and walked out of Tsunade's office talking about 'ramen' and 'training'. Sakura was trying to stay longer to see if she could get some more information, but when the glares of her two teachers and a sannin met her she knew that today wasn't a day that she should be pushing her luck. Following Naruto example, Sakura walked herself out while still thinking about who the old man was.

When the three were alone, Tsunade spoke up before Kakashi could even get a word in, "I know, "its dangerous playing at his pace" but what choice do we have?" Circling the room she stopped at a shelve where she pulled out a small bottle of sake and some cups from behind several books.

"He's not as young as he use to be," Kakashi's monotone voice stated, revealing an obvious weakness of the man that was once in this room with them.

"He's still dangerous," said Jiraiya as he sat back in his position near an open window.

"This 'deal' that he was talking about? It has something to do with Naruto, right?" questioned Kakashi as Tsunade was well on her way to becoming drunk.

"Yes," Tsunade said slowly, while pouring another drink. "I suggest that you get some sleep as well," she added suddenly while glaring at the copy ninja with a large cat like grin.

"Why's that?" Kakashi asked, almost knowing the answer with the use of his Saringan eye.

"You're the jounin that will be traveling with them!" she said smiling, then got serious when she said, "I can't have some stud muffin of a ninja causing all the women of Konoha to stop working, now can I?" A laugh escaped her mouth at the way Kakashi's eye narrow as if saying 'I'll give you this round, but next one is mine'.

"Fine. If that's all...?" he asked and received a nod from both sannin. In a blast of smoke and a loud popping sound he was gone from the office.

The two that were left didn't say much except to exchange sighs and before the white haired frog hermit said quietly, "What if Naruto doesn't want to stay?"

Tsunade drained her last cup and breathed loudly while wiping the perspiration from her forehead and said, "Then there is nothing we can do...but," and this she said with a knowing gleam in her eyes, "I don't think Naruto would give up his dreams so easily. I would think that you, of all people, would have a little more faith in your students."

"Oh?" countered the hermit gazing at a remarkably blue sky, "I do have faith in Naruto, but I also know that loneliness is a terrible burden for the kid. And I'm left wondering what would happen to him if he was no longer alone in the world?"

The Gondiame didn't like where the conversation was heading, so instead of listening she tilted back her head, leaning her chair back into a comfortable position and closed her eyes saying in a final sort of way, "I have faith in Naruto."


	5. Chapter 5

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow**

**Author's Notes:** Hello everybody! I'm back! Hehehehehe, okay so I took a small while trying to finish this chapter, but it'd done right? So I hope that you enjoy this fic of mine as the plot move on and the characters find out more about the man named...Matsuo Ryuuki. By the way?Can anyone who knows how, or speaks, Japanese fluently tell me if "Ryuuki" is a proper name for a male? Cause I'm going to be shortening it to Ryu really soon, if it isn't. Well...enjoy!

**Chapter Five - A New Quest and Dark Deals**

The sun had risen a half an hour ago sending it's brilliant light pouring over a large complex, which stood on an outcropping of rock that overlooked a small vale filled with lush plant life. Inside the large mansion-like complex the sun's light poured through the windows of a lavished room and struck the rooms wide awake occupant. However, the occupant seemed not to care, as he made no move to shift away from the blaring light. In fact the person, who was a black haired young man, sat upright in his bed staring at his hands while clenching them close then opening them.

Uchiha Sasuke's mind seemed to wander as he focused this attention on his hands. '_Blood stained hands_,' thought Sasuke while wincing slightly as his shoulder radiated some pain while still reminding him, after all these weeks, of the battle he and Naruto had before he came into Orochimaru's service. Kabuto was supposed to have mended the damage from that battle, but Sasuke always wondered if he had purposely left that area untouched as a slight against the Uchiha heir.

Tearing his eyes away from his hands, Sasuke looked around the room of his. Warm cotton sheets and a black thick bedspreads, with red designs, covered his lower half while an abundance of soft silky pillows helped him sit upright. '_I can't dwell on the past, I need to become more powerful...I need to kill Itachi_,' Sasuke told himself, while a vision of his arm punctured through his blonde haired teammates chest suddenly slipped into his mind.

Growling angrily, Sasuke threw off his covers in frustration, stood up and padded over to a expensive looking oak dresser. Standing in front of the dresser Sasuke, it reminded him of a dresser that his mother and father had and he reflected on whether or not he would ever be able to see his home again. Feeling a small twinge of pain shoot through his heart, the black haired boy pulled on the middle draw roughly and removed his new uniform while beginning his ritual of dressing for training.

He started by wrapping and taping his feet, ankles and shins with white cloth. After that he reached over to a pair of black pants and slid them over his legs, while he still looked as if he was in deep thought.

Before fastening his pants shut, Sasuke began to wrap his waist with tape and stopped only when he reached mid-abdomen. The sharingan user then turned his attention to his fists and the ends of his pants as he began taping them as well.

Next he picked up a finely made kimono half shirt that was white but had the symbol of his clan on the back. Tying off his pants with a length of thin black rope, he had hated the purple rope that the subordinates of Orochimaru wore, he busied himself by walking around the room collecting items that he used for training.

He snapped on his kunai holster on his leg and then clipped on his ninja item pouch just behind his left hip. Just about finished, he pulled a red and black arm guard on his right arm, while then snapping a series of leather straps to his left arm. Sighing in satisfaction , he left the room while running his hands through his hair.

Walking through the complex Sasuke felt the cold morning breeze slide over his face as he sniffed lightly and smelled the acrid odor of burning wood in the air. Following the smell, down winding stone corridors, he found several of the lower subordinates cooking and serving some sort of stew while the other ninja sat at tables eating and talking in hushed whispers. When he walked into the small hall he noticed that not only did the hall become quiet, but half a dozen eyes instantly narrowed in hatred as they stared at him. It was well known throughout the complex that he was the favorite pupil of the Snake Sannin, but that did little to save Sasuke from the biting remarks and the occasional fights that broke out between him and the sound ninjas.

However, the frequency of the attacks had begun to dwindle to almost nothing as he had sent most of the ninja that opposed him to the infirmary with career ending injuries. Walking into the hall, Sasuke could feel the palpable killing intent that seemed to roll off the ninjas and crash down upon him. Blocking out the stares, he walked to the front of the line without caring what was being said behind him, and grabbed a bowl. He then proceeded to snatch the ladle from an unsuspecting ninja and poured himself a serving of the brown colored stew.

No one spoke, but the reaction was louder than words, as the killing intent rose to unimaginable heights. Sasuke had no doubt that if he were to ever show weakness to these ninja that they would devourer him whole.

Whipping his head around he flashed the whole lot of them his sharingan and said in cold deadly tones, "What?" Most of the ninjas turned their heads away and resumed eating their meal, but it was the ones that held his gaze and then slowly turn the gazes back to their food that made Sasuke worry a bit.

'_Tch_, _idiots_,' he thought while walking out of the hall and padding silently to the private training grounds that Kabuto had secured for him, while coming to the conclusion, '_I don't have time for them...I need to become stronger_.'

When he had first arrived at Orochimaru's mansion, Sasuke thought that the sly sannin would try and deceive him by hindering his attempts at gaining power. However, to his surprise, Orochimaru began a strict regiment for him that not only kept him in more than excellent shape but was also necessary in controlling the cursed seal. He was also given access to Orochimaru's library of jutsu's and was told that he had to learn the techniques on his own.

Something in the back of his head told him that Orochimaru's best techniques were not present in the library, but just the sheer volume of jutsu's that were recorded stopped him from balking at their deal.

Arriving at his destination, Sasuke slurped the last of his soup and placed the bowl down on a near by training table. Feeling a presence behind him Sasuke tilted his head slightly as a kunai whizzed by his head. "Hn, you're going to have to do better than that Kabuto. Especially if you want to surprise me." said Sasuke, spinning around while crouching down slowly as he waited for his training exercise to begin.

"I had to test you, Sasuke-sama." a voice echoed in the open training area, as a ninja dropped down from the shadowy rafters, his glasses glinting in the morning sunlight. "After all, Orochimaru is coming today to see what kind of progress you are making."

Sasuke's eye twitched slightly, Orochimaru had made a habit out of visiting him every week to see just how far his "precious vessel" had come along in training. Oh yes, he had heard the name several times and had guessed what it had meant the first time he heard it, but Sasuke didn't care. In his mind revenge was his one goal, and he didn't care what Orochimaru would do with him as long as that goal was met.

"Is that all," he replied to the purple wearing ninja statement, a bored look stretched on his face, "here I thought you were actually going to challenge me." It was brief, but Sasuke had definitely seen Kabuto's eye muscle spasm wildly before the skinny medical-nin placed a predatory smile on his face.

"Sasuke-kun," said Kabuto, dropping the fake respect and adopting a cold tone to his voice, "Orochimaru-sama should be here at any moment. Shall we start?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the sound ninja and quickly snapped into a fighting stance as Kabuto snapped his fingers and several sound ninja came swarming out of no where to attack the Uchiha heir.

"Hn," scowled Sasuke as he pulled out his kunai and activated his saringan while allowing the charging ninjas to come to him.

The sun had spattered its warming glow over Konoha and a nice breeze seemed to accompany it as well. "All right," shouted Naruto as he woke up from sleeping with excitement in his face. He had fallen asleep, after a long day of training, thinking about the man called Matsuo Ryuuki and his A-Class mission. '_I wonder if I'll be picked to go on that mission_?' pondered the young boy while he kicked off his sheets and wandered to the bathroom to take a shower and freshen up.

After washing up he made himself breakfast, namely a cup of ramen, and took off for the Hokage's building. However, just as he made it to the ground level something bounced softly against his ankle. Looking down he saw a small red colored ball and watched as a little girl came over to stand in front of him. The girl watched him with wide eyed innocence as he smile and held out the ball. Smiling, she went to grab it...

"Oh my god, Mei!" screeched a overly large, unpleasant looking woman as she wrapped her daughter with her arms protectively while saying in a high pitched voice, "Keep away from her demon!"

Golden eyes twitched in fury at the ignorant woman's insult and harsh words, while they watched the scene below from their perch high in a tree. The little boy seemed to deflate for a moment, then acting as if nothing had happened, he quickly laughed and set the ball on the ground while he took off in the direction of the Hokage's building.

Naruto sighed as he jumped from building to building as quickly as he could, in his chest a slow burning sensation steadily rose up and his mouth became unnaturally dry as he thought about what the woman said. Stopping to gather himself on a random roof top, Naruto shook his head as if trying to rid himself of the thoughts that were in it, and said to himself, "Why does it always have to be this way?"

When only silence answered him he took a deep breath and looked up at the sky saying, "It's a beautiful day...better not waste it." With those words he was off in a flash, hopping from roof to roof and heading in a new direction.

When he got to where he was going, he jumped down from the roofs and ran over to a little ramen shop called Ichiraku. "G'morning! Ayame-neechan!" called out the bright young blonde as he sat himself at a stool spun it once around.

"Hello, Naruto-kun! Are you off to train today?" as the pretty young brunette as she walked over to a door way and said, "Dad! Naruto is here!"

"Nope. No, training today," said Naruto with a grin as the girl looked confused, "There was this really creepy old geezer...

In the shadows across the street, a pair of golden eyes twitched in an upset way, at the boys description of him, but it didn't stop a smile from forming on his face after the fact.

"...who wants to choose a team for a important mission. Maybe I get chosen, ne, ne?" said the boy while happily bouncing on his seat.

"A mission you say," asked a voice from the back as an older man with kind face came out to greet the two. The man put on an apron as he smile at Naruto and said, "I hope you weren't thinking of going on a mission on an empty stomach?"

"Of course not!" grinned Naruto, while he ordered some ramen and received a good natured yell of 'right away' from the old man.

Mastuo stood in the shadows watching the blonde talk animatedly about everything from his training regiment to what kind of ramen he was planning on eating next time he came around. The older man watched as the shop owner and his daughter regarded Naruto with friendly smiles. Never once did the pair tell him that he was loitering, even after he had finished his meal. He watched as Naruto paid up his bill, said his goodbye's and began his journey to the Hokage's building.

As before, the old man with the golden eyes wasn't far behind to watch as him on his trek. He always stayed close enough to hear the scathing words of the villagers and to watch the injustice that was done to the small ninja boy as he passed through a rather busy part of town. Like before, the boy would take the verbal abuse and smile as if he didn't hear a thing, but the old man knew better as he watched the boys eyes cloud over momentarily with sadness. However, those eyes would soon return to their bright happy form when an older ninja called out the little boy's name.

"Naruto!" called out a man who moved over to Naruto with a genuine smile on his face. The man was lean and wore a green chuunin vest. Is face sported a prominent scar across the ridge of his nose and he had his hair tied back in a ponytail. "Why are you in such a hurry?" asked the man as he reached Naruto and ruffled his hair in an affectionate way.

"Iruka-sensei," exclaimed Naruto, as he smile brightly, "I'm off to see if I'm going to be a part of the mission today!"

Ryuuki noted the way Naruto spoke to this man name Iruka. Just the way the boy's body language changed made him think that Iruka was someone of great importance to Naruto. This was confirmed as the man started to tell the boy to be careful, and even voiced his opinion that an A-Class mission was too dangerous for him. Naruto's smile widened at all the fussing the older nin did over him, but he then told him that he would be fine.

"Don't tell me that! Especially after all the time you've been spending in the hospital!" growled out the chuunin teacher.

Naruto could only look sheepishly up at his adopted father and shrug sheepishly while saying, "I'll be more careful this time?"

"Humph!" said Iruka while sending his former student a hard glare that quickly transformed into a half smile when he said, "Just try to listen to me for once and be careful, okay?"

Naruto nodded happily as he and his old teacher walked down the road to the Hokage's building while Naruto tried desperately to get his old teacher to promise to buy him ramen when he cam back from the mission that he was going to get.

Folding his arms, Ryuuki stared at the two and watched as the villagers seemed to keep their barbed tongues in their mouths. With the chuunin at his side the villagers didn't seem to have the courage to say anything out of place to the boy. However, that didn't keep them from glaring or making rude gestures at them when their backs were to them. Humming to himself in thought, the golden eyed man disappeared in a blur of light and shadow.

Reaching the Hokage's tower Naruto looked around the courtyard and whistled lowly as he saw almost every ninja in the village gathered at the same place. Turning around and looking his old sensei in the eye Naruto asked, "Iruka-sensei?"

"Nani?" replied Iruka as he too looked around and saw something that most would see outside of wartime.

"Are you also trying to go on this mission?" the blonde ninja asked while suspiciously eyeing his sensei.

"No. I've got children to teach, Naruto. That's my permanent mission," Iruka said with a smile that disarmed Naruto and made him smile.

"Good!" laughed Naruto as he looked around the courtyard and said in an absentminded voice, "That's one less ninja that I have to compete against."

"Oi! Naruto!" called out a scruffy haired young man, with feral eyes, and a white dog perched on his head. "Over here!" he called again and waved the young loud ninja over.

"See ya later, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said over his shoulder has he moved to join the small group of genin. Iruka sighed as he walked over to a group of academy teachers and began to listen in on the gossip that they were currently taking about.

Just inside the Hokage building, two sannin were currently in a heated discussion with a golden eyed man. "What do you mean that this place is "not suite" for him!" growled out Tsunade as the man across from her sniffed the air not even affected by the amount of suppressed rage that was building in the woman's eyes.

"Sarutobi didn't even hold to our deal!" spat the man as he turned furious eyes, that shined in the low lit area like jewels, and matched he anger if not more. "He told me that the boy would be 'well looked after'!" said Ryuuki as he took a step forward, "However, all I see is this villages contempt for him and their willingness to hurt him!"

Tsunade faltered at those words, but luckily Jiraiya was there to calmly say, "That day holds many pains for the villagers. Sarutobi could hope to hold back all of their anger, but he did spare the boy the indignity of being called names and attacked when he announced to all that anyone who so much as breaths those words would meet a horrible fate."

"AND THIS IS HOW HE HAS GROWN UP!" yelled the older man with such force that the building itself shook slightly. "That old fool lied to me," said Ryuuki trying to control his emotions, "what's keeping me from taking him away from this place?"

Gaining her bearings, Tsunade spoke up saying, "First, Sandaime never 'lied' to you. He told you that he would do his best to protect and raise the boy. He kept his promise. Besides, why would 'he' want to leave his father's village."

Jiraiya had tried to stop her from mention that one aspect to the man in front of her, but he proved to be short on luck, and too slow...as well as too late. The man before the two sannin narrowed his eyes as he shook visibly with the torrent of fresh anger that swept through his body. "Don't..." growled the old man in a cold menacing way, "...don't you _ever _mention that piece of trash in front of me again! Especially if you want to keep breathing."

Taking time to calm himself down, Ryuuki felt his finger nails breaking his flesh as he tried to calm his angry spirit. Finally calm enough to notice that he was bleeding from the wounds in his palm, he quickly used a medical jutsu and healed the minor wounds.

Not turning back to face the two sannin, he called to them saying, "Fine. I will honor our deal, but know this...if the boy shows even a small interest in leaving this pitiful dirt-ball of a village, I will not be coming back."

Nodding their head the two sannin agreed silently, while the man named Matsuo Ryuuki walked away saying, "Now about this mission..."

The White painted wooden doors to the Hokage building opened to the courtyard filled with ninjas, revealing both the Hokage and the stranger that Naruto had met. The courtyard was suddenly filled with the bustling of Ninja falling into line according to rank and type. All the genin fallowed suite, as did Naruto. However, when everyone was situated and standing in order, Matsuo didn't waste time talking as he walked down the concrete steps and quickly began his picking process.

"This man will choose two teams to accompany him on a A-Class mission," said Tsunade as the person she pointed to dismissed a large amount of jounin and chuunin ninjas with out even batting an eye. Sending a glare at Tsunade, Ryuuki then walked over to the genin and stopped in front of a young man whose green spandex suit and bowl-cut hair made him stand out from the crowd.

"You," the old man said through his half-mask.

"Me?" the young man named Rock Lee asked in confusion.

"Are you a taijutsu user?" asked the man while his eyes seemed to be looking deep into the young man's soul.

"Yes sir! I am! I learned under Gai-sen..."

"Your on the team," interrupted the man waving away what Lee was going to say. He then stepping over to the pink haired kunoichi that he had seen walk in with the blond boy while the bowl haired boy look on in shock. "What are your talents?"

"Huh? Oh! Um...as well as being a Konoha ninja, I've been studying to be a medical ninja," Sakura said after some confusion, as the man had spoken to her but wasn't looking at her.

"Medical ninja, huh?" said the man in a thought filled voice while he rocked on his heel momentarily, before saying, "I'll take you along."

"Hokage-sama," complained a jounin as everyone watched the man create a team that mainly had genin on it, "this is madness! Genin don't have the power or the experience for such a mission."

Tsunade was quiet aware of the situation and allowed Jiraiya take care of the young jounin by telling him that 'it isn't his place to tell the Hokage what to do or to second guess the client'.

Again, after walking and speaking to some of the chuunin and jounin that were lined up, he had dismissed another large group. All the while, in the back row, Naruto was bouncing on his heels trying to get the attention of the golden eyed man. Never did he suspect or noticed that the man's eyes were constantly flickering to him every now and again.

Hyuuga Neji stood still as the man crossed his path then stopped when he saw his eyes. The older man's golden eyes peered into his, and Neji felt as if his own bloodline limit was being turned on him for a moment. "Hyuuga, right?" said the man as Neji held his gaze and steeled his resolute. Snorting lightly, the man dismissed Neji along with Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba Hinata, and Shino. Most were angry at their dismissal and it showed as some of them groaned loudly and complained, others chose to be stoic and not say a word.

Watching most of the genin walk away from the remainder of the group, Tsunade sighed a breath of relief. However, he didn't stop choosing genin as he ended in front of Tenten and asked as if he already knew the answer to the question, "Weapon specialists?"

Nodding once, Tenten felt a strange feeling creep into her stomach while she was around the older man. She didn't want to look into the mans face, and when she heard him say 'You'll do fine' she couldn't help repress a shudder that wracked her body. Something about this man told her that he was very dangerous.

"Hokage-sama? Do you have an opinion as to who I should chose from those who are left over?" asked Ryuuki as he turned his head to hear her answer. Looking at the faces in the crowd Tsunade found one that she trusted and said, "Yuuhi Kurenai is a top notch jounin and is rather good with genjutsu."

"So be it then," said the man turning around and walking away from the rest of the group.

Naruto added up the people that he picked in his mind and noticed that the old man had forgotten to pick one more person. Not losing his chance at an A-Class mission Naruto ran to the front and shouted at the retreating back of the old man, "Hey, old man! You forgot to pick one more person!"

"Ohh? Did I?" said the man, his back still turned while the makings of a smile seemed to form under his mask at the young boys outburst.

Tsunade wanted to strangle the little brat for being so stupid, but she knew that Ryuuki had planned this from the beginning and so all she could do was sigh in frustration and watch as the man slowly turned around and seemed to stare rather hard at Naruto.

"Then...tell me your name," said the man in a challenging voice, asking the same question he had asked in the Hokage tower.

Not being one to back down from a challenge, Naruto stepped up to him saying as loud as he could, "Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!"

Golden eyes narrowed when the boy introduced himself, "Naruto, huh? You must think your pretty strong, don't you?"

"Very!" said Naruto with the utmost confidence in his abilities.

"Fine," said the man turning his head away from the young man while allowing a smile to reach his eyes, "you can come along as well."

"Yeah!" cried out Naruto as he prance around the courtyard. Tsunade and Jiraiya could only shake their collective heads as they noticed the older man seemingly happiness for the young man. '_Only Naruto would purposefully throw himself to the wolves_,' thought Jiraiya while he watched the six person group come together to hear the details of the mission. Kakashi appeared in a gust of wind and walked over to where Kurenai stood, as he listened in on the conversation while everyone who had assembled in the courtyard dispersed.

'_I hope this turns out alright_," he pondered while Ryuuki started talking.

The briefing was quick and to the point, and from what Naruto had listened to...the man named Ryuuki had come to enlist the help of Konoha because his village was under attack by unknown forces. Ryuuki explained that they are to defend the village from the attackers, so that the people of the village can escape unharmed. Kakashi had spoken up once to ask a question, but was quickly silenced as the old man answered his question before it could even leave his mouth. Ryuuki told Kakashi that he didn't want to involve any more ninja that what was needed, and he wanted to identify the enemy as well.

"Why choose genin then," asked Kurenai, while she looked worriedly back and forth at the young faces in the group.

"My people have live in secrecy for quiet a while," said Ryuuki while gazing at Naruto subconsciously, "they have a natural deep rooted suspicion for those who are not of their clan. However, young adult a generally given the benefit of the doubt. If I were to bring a platoon of adult strangers into the village the people might not want anything to do with us."

"Oh," Kurenai said, her lips pouting just a bit as she looked over to Kakashi. Kakashi was thinking to himself about what village that Ryuuki could have been talking about, but nothing came to mind and he thought, '_Does this mean that there is another hidden village in the Fire Country_?"

"Prepare your equipment and be ready to leave at first light tomorrow," the old man said, "It will take a three or four day hike to reach my village. Dismissed!"

"Yes, sir!" shouted Lee as he snapped to attention while Tenten and Sakura nodded their heads.

Naruto any smile as he bounced around like a little child while saying in a singsong voice, "A-Class, A-Class, I'm going on an A-Class...missson!"

After his little impromptu dance, Sakura walked over to him and smacked his head while saying in a angry voice, "Idiot! This is nothing to be happy about, or do you remember how the other A-class missions you had turned out?"

Ryuuki's eyes widened a bit at that information, '_Other A-Class mission_?' Turning his head he saw the blonde rubbing his head while thinking what his teammate had said. "Oh yeah," he said seriously when hethought about the other mission he had.

The two joined up with the other pair as they all began discussing what was needed for the mission while they exited the courtyard. "Uzumaki Naruto, eh?" Ryuuki said to himself testing the name as he looked up at the Hokage mountain and scowled angrily. If someone was in the courtyard watching the old man, they would have seen him talking to himself as he glared at Hokage mountain and said, "He will not be coming back..."

Ryuuki turned away and strode out of the courtyard, but before he completely left he said with a deep growl,"...you can count on that."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow**

**Author's Note: (Edited on March2, 2006 12:31 pm)**Hello everyone! What's up? I've just completed this chapter and I hope you all like they way the plot line is going. Please remember that this is an Alternate Universe fiction, because sooner or later the story line is going to take a gental curve away from the so-called "cannon" of the manga. Thank you for reading my stories, hope you enjoy it! Bye!

**Chapter Six - The Hidden Village of the Forest**

The night before the mission Naruto had gotten everything in order and was curled up in his bed trying to fall asleep. However, not everything was going as he planned. There he was, in his bed, looking at a water spotted ceiling while the soft warm summer wind drifted into his room and tousled his hair around.

The moon was unusually bright this night as some of its motes of light filtered through his window illuminating the small studio apartment that he called home. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, he couldn't fall asleep.

He had tried warm milk, counting sheep, and many other cure for his insomnia, but none of them panned out. Getting angry at himself for not being able to fall asleep, Naruto began to think about why this was happening to him. He was angry not only because this was going to effect his performance tomorrow, but because this so-called "problem" of his had been happening ever since he and Sasuke had their fight at the Valley of the End. Something had happened to him and for some reason it gave him a dreadful feeling.

'_Maybe the fox..._' thought Naruto, as he shifted in his bed while not feeling comfortable in an position. Closing his eyes he tried imagining a swirl of red energy that was the demon nine-tailed fox inside him. Surprisingly the image of the swirling chakra appeared almost instantaneously in his minds eye as a deep menacing growl echoed in his head.

'_Damn fox! Did you do something to me_?' Naruto barked at the swirling red mist in his imagination. He didn't receive a normal answer, but suddenly Naruto couldn't help but smile at something that was amusing to himself. Panic spread throughout Naruto's body as he felt this foreign emotion sweeping through him. '_Is this the fox_'s _feelings_?' he asked himself in fright, '_And why is he amused_?'

No answer came to the spiky blonde haired ninja, when he sat back in bed while shaking off the strangely exuberant feeling that was just beginning to ebb away. The moon had followed it's predetermined path on its way to an apex, while a frustrated Naruto sighed deeply at his body's unwillingness to be tired or 'fall asleep'. He was also worried that this "problem" was unwilling to fade away or get better, and if anything it was getting worse as it had just recently become more frequent. Throwing the covers of his bed, Naruto walked over to a shelve and picked up a scroll that he had pick up from the shinobi library. Returning to bed he opened the scroll and began to read as he briefly thinking, '_This is going to be one long night_!'

As dawn steadily approached Konoha from the east, the guards of the west gate could see a small party of ninjas gathering at the base of the gate while most of the town slept peacefully in their houses.

Awkwardly perched against a building, Naruto fought with himself to keep his eyes open while Sakura, Tenten, and Lee off to the side as they each took turns telling each other about their contents of their backpacks. Sakura wore a annoyed look on her face as she every now and again looked down the road expecting their last member to come striding up. Strangely, Kakashi had been the first ninja to be waiting for each of the younger ninja, along with Ryuuki-sama. Sakura and Naruto both noticed this strange occurrence, but they didn't comment on it.

Personally, Naruto was too tired to do much more than observe Lee talking to Tenten and Sakura about a new move that he was working on, while Ryuuki kept staring at him every now and again. Something about the man made Naruto nervous, but he couldn't for the life of him figure what it was that made him feel like that man was expecting something from him.

"KAKASHI!" screamed someone from the other end of the street, everyone was looking around while looks of confusion over took their face as they tried to place the voice.

However, Hatake Kakashi didn't even need to look around...in fact if he could have he would have dissolved into thin air, but his mission was as such that he couldn't leave Naruto's side. Taking a deep breath and preparing himself for the inevitable, Kakashi pulled out an orange book and tried to bury himself in its text.

"My springtime of youth rival! Prepare yourself to be astonished at the transformation that you have invoked with your challenge!" called a voice from the shadows of a nearby alley.

This time around everyone that was waiting knew who the voice had belonged to. "Gai-sensei!" screamed Lee in his over enthusiastic way, "Reveal yourself to show us all what "being youthful" is all about!"

Slapping his palm over his good eye Kakashi grumbled to himself, "Please don't!" However, that didn't stop his annoying self appointed rival from leaping from the shadows while a sparkle from his teeth shined in the morning light.

Had Naruto been half awake he would have noticed all his friends gawking at the man that stood in front of them all. Lee looked stunned, his mouth was hanging open in shock and his eyes seemed to be bulging from their sockets as he screamed, "Gai-sensei! What did you do to yourself!"

Even Kakashi had to look up from his book when he heard the distress in Lee's voice, and when he saw Gai he could do nothing but look on in confusion and disbelief. Sakura and Tenten were babbling to themselfs as they looked at the new look that the jounin had chosen to use against Kakashi in this challenge.

Standing no more than fifteen feet away from the group stood a man that had no resemblance to the Konoha jounin named Gai. As the wind swept down the street it caught the man's styled short hair causing it to sway slightly. His eyes were shining with confidence while two perfectly shaped "normal" eyebrows cocked up in surprise at seeing everyone gathered at the gate.

This man wore a pair of black pants that were tied off with a length of rope. Over his torso he wore a skin tight white muscle shirt with an open black velvet vest, which substituted itself for his jounin vest. Dark green colored leather bands encircled his biceps while arm guards with polished metal covered his forearms. His hands were covered with orange and black gloves that had protective metal plates on the back, and his feet were enclosed in black boots.

"Ack," choked out Lee as he stared at his sensei while completely distrusting his eyeballs, "NO! Sensei! What did you do to yourself!"

"Lee!" said Gai in a deep tone as he walked over to the group with a blinding smile, not once noticing that both girls seemed to be drowning in their drool, "One must make sacrifices in order for one to accomplish their goals."

Looking away from his favorite student, Gai looked over to his rival who was still blinking rapidly while rubbing his eye as if trying to get the image to disappear. "Well my springtime of life rival, Kakashi. I do believe that I win this challenge."

Behind the group, the grey haired Ryuuki could only roll his eyes at the absurdity of everything that was happening in front of him. Looking off to the side as the two jounin talked, Ryuuki saw that Naruto was currently leaning up against a building and seemed to be fast asleep. _'I wonder why he's so tired,_" thought the old man as he watched the young boy breath in and out slowly. '_He looks so much like his father_," Ryuuki thought angrily, but then softened his resolve as he said to himself, '_but he's a lot like his mother, too...he has those same eyes_.'

Ryuuki didn't get to continue his train of though as the strange man in the black clothes punched his fist into the air victoriously as the man name Kakashi only shook his head while mumbling something along the lines of "why would they choose him over me". It seemed as if the two girls had decided on something to the chagrin of the copy ninja.

Turning his head back to look at the blond he noticed the he was being playfully awoken by the fuzzy eyebrow boy. "Naruto! Gai-sensei has succeeded in defeating his great lifetime rival of youth! We should honor this by doing one thousand pushups!" the young man cried loudly.

"I'll count," said Naruto not opening his eyes or moving his lips much, while Lee dropped to the ground and began his one thousand pushups.

Suddenly, in a swirl of leaves, a young woman appeared from out of nowhere holding a small white package. Apologizing profusely, she said that the Hokage wanted her to drop the package off on their way to where ever they were going.

Seeing that everyone was ready Ryuuki cleared his throat and said in a serious voice, "We'll be heading west. Stick close to me and don't fall behind. As soon as we pass the Jinbu checkpoint the chances that we'll meet with the enemy will increase. Does everyone understand?"

This last question was directed to a barely awake Naruto, who was have problems keeping his eyes awake. An elbow quickly found its way to his ribs and caused just enough pain to clear the sleep induced haze that was covering his brain. Too bad that it didn't stop him from screaming bloody murder. "AHHHHHHHH! Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto, you idiot! Listen up! Ryuuki-sama could have some important information for us!" yelled Sakura while watching Naruto rub the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry," he said softly, while the pink haired kunoichi glared at him long after the deed had been done.

"It's fine," finally said Ryuuki as he looked at Kakashi and Kurenai, "Just keep aware after we pass Jinbu, attacks will become more frequent. Let's go." And with that said five of the Konoha ninjas said their good-byes to a smiling Gai, while Kurenai could only stutter in befuddlement at Gai's transformation.

Naruto crosser over the gate boundary and as soon as his foot touched the other side he cheered loudly and opened his eyes wide saying, "Alright! Watch out bad guys, Uzumaki Naruto is coming!" Kakashi crinkled his one eye and seemed to smile underneath his mask as he watched his student become overenthusiastic about "putting his life on the line".

"Naruto!" Lee replied with his fist tightly curled and as he walked up to the orange clad ninja and said, "I too am ready for the challenges that await us!"

"Calm down you two," said Kurenai as she looked over to Kakashi for help and recognized his eye position as a smile. Sighing to herself she thought, '_This is going to be one long journey_.'

Not wasting any time, Ryuuki pointed in the direction that they were to head as he yelled and quickly took off into the trees, "Let's go!"

Going through his usual routing, Sasuke sat on a small concrete dias meditating on a new jutsu that he had been working on. The breath he took in was slow and deep, almost as if he were sleeping, but any ninja could tell that he was completely aware of everything around him. This was evident when his body tensed at ever sound and shift of air around him.

Yesterdays training had been hard on the young Uchiha, and it showed as Sasuke winced slightly when he set his hands into the seal of the bird. The fight against the lower ranked sound ninjas wasn't that hard, in fact it was quiet refreshing as Sasuke remembered. It was Kabuto's sparring lesson that made Sasuke wince, as he remembered the hard lesson that he had learned and the new jutsu Kabuto had made.

He remembered that Kabuto held a smile all throughout the match, even when Sasuke was raining down taijutsu combinations that he could barely block. When things got heated, Sasuke remembered watching as Kabuto's eyes turned a slightly red color while he made several new seals and yelled...

"_Itami Mahi no Justu!" cried out Kabuto as he gripped his wrist and his fingers on one hand seemed to grow long red chakra nails. "Let's see you deal with this Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said smoothly, not even trying to hide the malicious edge to his voice._

_Running in, the medical came close inside Sasuke's defense and lashed out with his new chakra nailed hand, only to have Sasuke dodge effortlessly. It was then that Sasuke's eyes widened in horror as the chakra nails extended out and raked across his exposed shoulder._

_Waves of pain rolled through Sasuke's body at the slightest touch of the nail, and through the pain Sasuke could hear the smooth laughter of the medical nin across from him. Standing up, Sasuke pushed through the pain and watched as the medical nin face transformed from laughter to anger. Shaking his head at the young Uchiha, Kabuto said with a sneer, "You're just like that blonde haired brat. You just don't know when to quit."_

_The grey haired nin came rushing in again, but this time Sasuke didn't make a move to dodge. Instead, Sasuke shot both of his hands out at the last possible second and ensnared both of Kabuto's wrists in one movement. Sensing Kabuto's next move, Sasuke then jumped off the ground tucking his knees to his chest while still holding Kabuto's wrists. Using his weight, he pulled Kabuto down towards the ground with him. However, Sasuke let go of the medical nin's wrist as they neared the ground, only to plant both hands on the ground and kick straight up with both legs. Unfortunately for the grey haired ninja, Sasuke's feet slammed right underneath his chin sending him flying into the air while blood spurted from his mouth._

"_Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" yelled Sasuke as he stood up quickly and performed seals faster than a normal ninja could trace. A giant fireball blossomed out of his hand to engulf the medical nin in orange and yellow flames. When the flames died down the smoldering Kabuto was quickly set upon by Sasuke again. Sasuke knew of Kabuto's cell activation technique, and he wasn't about to give the man time to heal as he sped quickly at the falling man while calling the Chidori to his finger tips._

_However, he never made it to Kabuto as something quickly spirited the ninja away from Sasuke sight. Tracing the path of the "thing", Sasuke saw that standing at the opening to the courtyard was a smiling Orochimaru, and at his feet sat Kabuto's burned body. "Excellent!" said the snake sannin as he looked on with delight and seemed to lick his lips in excitement._

"_Whatever," Sasuke said in annoyance, as he walked pass the both of them and trekked back to his room. _

The pain from Kabuto's technique was still lingering even after a whole day of rest, and it bothered Sasuke as he wonder what would have happened if the bastard had gotten a direct hit. Frowning at the stone tile of the floor Sasuke told himself, _'Forget that for now. I must master this jutsu_!'

With that said he ignored the pain in his shoulder and began performing seals slowly and accurately and finished by saying softly, "_Katon, Kasai Bushin no Jutsu_!" From the last seal that he performed Sasuke breathed out a stream of fire that produced four human shaped columns of fire. Sweating profusely, he kept concentrating as the fire clones began to go through several exercises that he would usually do. However, not even a quarter way through the routine, the clones seemed to dissipate as Sasuke breathed out a sigh of exhaustion. "They take up too much chakra," he said with a growl, while wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

Sitting back he watched as several sound ninjas came walking into the training area and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the boy that was sitting on the dais to their right. One man, who was laughing at something his friend had told him, held an orange booklet in his hands while another moved forward swiftly saying, "Pardon our intrusion, Sasuke-sama. We Didn't know you were training here."

Looking over to his two companions he motioned for them to leave. The man with the orange booklet shrugged in indifference and followed his friends out.

Sasuke watched as they disappeared, before a memory of someone who like to read little orange books came popping into his head. Just the fact that the sound ninja was also very calm in the situation, had Sasuke smirking as he remembered when a certain blonde ninja he knew had tried to peek at the coveted "orange book" of their grey haired sensei.

However, just as fast as the memory came into his mind, a frown appeared on the pale young man's face. "Hn," he huffed to himself in displeasure as he thought, '_It's no use thinking about such things_.' Sasuke's face tightened as he once again ran through the seals of his new jutsu and said in anger, "I have to get stronger!"

To say that the journey to their destination was going 'smooth' would be understating the obvious. Sakura was still trying to calm herself after Naruto had, for the twentieth time this day, asked in a pained and whiney voice, "Are we there yet!"

"Naruto!" she growled, as a look of murder came into her eyes and the intent to kill seemed to become quite strong in her. She was in no mood for his stupid antics and was about to shut him up when she saw him clutch his stomach and wince slightly. '_He must be hungry_,' she thought feeling a bit of pity for her teammate. However, whatever pity she felt for him, didn't detract from his annoying attitude and habits.

Trying her best to block him out of her head Sakura pushed on watching as both Kakashi and the old man named Ryuuki jumped from tree branch to tree branch at a fast pace without even breaking a sweat. Currently, Sakura was panting hard and was having trouble keeping up the pace with everyone, but she strode on in the hope of getting a small break soon.

Off to the right of Sakura was a determined Lee, whose face was full of exuberance at the amount of exercise that the team was doing at the moment. '_This is excellent training_!' he thought as he watched the back of the jounin in front of him. Lee wasn't even breathing hard at the pace that the two up ahead were setting, but just the fact that he could keep up with them made Lee smile.

Turning his head he watched as Naruto too was keeping up with everyone, but then looked shocked as Naruto turned and smirked as he did a crazy mid air twisting somersault that transformed into a back flip and stuck the landing while still keeping up with the group. "Yosh! I will not be beaten!" yelled Lee suddenly, causing both Sakura and Tenten to look over at the green spandex wearing boy in surprise.

With that Lee quickly jumped high into the air and spun himself which cause him to rocket through the air like a spinning torpedo. This ended when he reached out, in mid spin, to grab a branch and flip himself to the next branch. Please with himself, Lee looked over at Naruto and could only gawk as he saw him pull off almost the same stunt, only with less flourish, while grinning back at him. Lee smiled as he thought of Gai and his eternal rival, while he watched as Naruto performed a crazy stunt in the air. '_The flames of youth burn brightly for both of us Naruto_,' thought Lee as he copied Naruto's maneuver and the began performing his with a smile plastered on his face.

Watching the two boys friendly competition, Tenten smiled lightly but then quickly frowned as she saw that Ryuuki-sama was watching the boys from the corner of his eye. Tenten didn't know what it was, but she could swear that the old man wasn't what he said he was. Every time she was near the man she felt a cold shiver running down her back and often felt uncomfortable in his presence.

She was leaping over several branches when she saw what looked like Kakashi and Ryuuki having a heated discussion., but anytime someone got close enough to hear them they made sure to move faster.

Tenten didn't know what to make of it but she didn't like the feeling that she was getting. Chancing a quick glance over her shoulder at Kurenai she saw that the jounin had a serious face on while keeping a sharp eye out for ambushes. Reaching into her hip case Tenten remove a small scroll and held it tightly in her hand. She didn't know why, but it always made her calm to grip the scrolls that had her formidable arsenal of weapons in her hands. Once again she happened to look forward trying to see if she could catch some sort of body language of the men in the front.

Tenten assumption was right, Kakashi and Ryuuki were having a heated discussion as they jumped from tree to tree. "You have no right bringing these gennin into this," said Kakashi in a measured tone.

Not even paying attention to Kakashi's words, Ryuuki said curtly, "I care not what you think, copy ninja." The next words that came from his mouth held a biting edge to them as Ryuuki's golden eyes flashed for a second, "Get in my way...and you will regret it."

Kakashi took the words in stride as he looked away saying, "Same goes for me." After that both men seemed to be more tense and cautious around the other. Kurenai saw this and worried as she brought up the rear. Kakashi's word to her as they sped off into the night following their client echoed in her head, '_Kurenai. Our mission is to protect Naruto from Ryuuki. If any seems "out of place" we are to gather the gennin and return home immediately_.'

'_What could Ryuuki want with Naruto_?' thought Kurenai as she went over the possibilities. Her conclusion was that it must have something to do with the power of the Nine-tails, but she always seemed to come to a dead end when she told herself that the Nine-tails was uncontrollable.

Narrowing her eyes she thought, '_Matsuo? What is it that you want_?'

"We're taking a break," called the voice of Ryuuki as he leapt from his place to land on the leaf covered forest floor. Kakashi said nothing as he dropped down from his position and pulled out a small orange book. However, instead of sticking his whole face in the book he held it so that his one eye could survey the others in the group, especially Matsuo.

The shadows of the forest had started to become long as the sun began its decent into the horizon. Sakura sat on the leaf covered floor of the forest trying to catch her breath while rubbing the bottom of her feet. Seeing the girl rubbing her feet, Ryuuki said without a hint of emotion, "Don't worry as soon as we get pass the checkpoint we'll be moving at a slower pace."

Sakura looked up at the old man and watched him fish out two small cylindrical containers as she said in a small voice that reflected her frustration, "It's okay, Ryuuki-sama. I should be in better shape than this. Besides, it is good training."

Lee suddenly busted into the scene when he heard the words "good" and "training" being used together. "Ah, Sakura-san! Your determination blinds this Noble Green Beast with her shining youthful enthusiasm to better herself!"

Ryuuki smirked slightly at the strange look that the pink haired kunoichi gave her teammate, however he then searched the area for his intended target and found him sitting under a small shady tree clutching his stomach and saying something about "being hungry".

Smiling under his mask, Ryuuki walked over to the area where Naruto sat and sat down while opened both his containers. He knew that while he was doing this a certain blonde was watching him like a hawk. Pulling at the bottom of his mask he revealed a small flap that allowed him to access his moth without taking the mask off. After which he slid something, that looked like fresh ramen noodles, from one container into the other container and then pulled out a pair of wooden chopsticks while plunging them into the container. Pulling out glistening ramen noodle on the end of chopstick, he knew that he now had the boys attention.

Looking up from his meal he saw Naruto gazing hungrily at the noodles that he was happily slurping up. '_This is too easy_,' thought Ryuuki as he put a frown on his face and suddenly said sternly, "Hey! Boy! If you're hungry stop watching and come over here."

He didn't need to say anything else as the young ninja saddled up to him with a yelp of delight and sat next to him while Ryuuki pulled a small bowl from his pack. He then filled it with most of the ramen that he had bought and watch as the boy pulled a pair of his own chopsticks from his pockets..

"Thanks, old man." was Naruto reply to being handed a bowl of warm ramen soup, which was quickly followed by, "Itadakimasu!"

Everyone in the clearing watched as Naruto happily slurped the offered ramen while the older man seemed to study the young boy at his side with an intense scrutiny. "Say, old man?" asked Naruto in between slurps of noodles.

"Nani?"

"You don't seem like such a bay guy...so why where you fighting with Tsunade no ba-chan and Ero-senin?" Those two names said in that endearing way made Ryuuki almost shoot ramen juice out of his nose, as he imagined the boy calling them that to their face.

Recovering as gracefully as he could, Ryuuki sighed, "I don't like being kept in the dark about certain things, and that was what they were doing to me. So I couldn't help but get angry." Ryuuki knew it wasn't the whole truth, just a more obscure version of it, but he wasn't about to blurt out all his intentions just yet.

"Oh," said Naruto, seeming satisfied for the moment with the older man's answer. "Do you like ramen too?" came the question out of the blue.

"Not really, but I like it from time to time," said the golden eyed man as he looked over and watched the boy smile brightly.

"Too bad, your loss! That just means more for me!" Naruto happily laughed, while slurping the last of his juice and sighing in content while patting his stomach.

"So Ryuuki-sama," said Naruto as he stood up.

"Ryuu-sama," corrected the older man while looking at Naruto in a serious way, "My friends call me Ryuu, I'm not too partial to my full name."

"Whatever, old man," said Naruto as he gave back Ryuu's bowl back to him and again thanked him for sharing his meal. Ryuu could have sworn that the boys eyes were brighter than before, but he didn't have time to think on it as a shadow fell over him as soon as Naruto left his side.

"Tell me Ryuuki-sama," said a red eyed female jounin as her eyes narrowed suspiciously at the older man, "just where are we heading to? I would like to plan out a route for use to take."

"That's impossible," said the old man as he lowered his masks flap while everyone in the clearing listened closely to his explanation.

"Why is that?" asked Kurenai now intrigued at the man's response.

"Because," said Ryuu putting away his items and standing up while shouldering his pack, "no one knows that this village even exists." The suspense in the air, as to what he was talking about, was so thick that it could almost be said that it stole the breath away from its witnesses. Ryuu turned away to from the group as he said, "Hidden Village of the Forest, that is where we are heading."

Kakashi, Kurenai and Sakura all gave incredulous looks on their combined faces at the mentioning of the fabled village. Still none the less, they all knew that Matsuo was dead serious as he hadn't even so much as flinched when he said that. "We should reach a small village by night fall if we hurry. Let's get going!" Kakashi pocketed his book and Kurenai took her position in the back as the group followed Ryuu through the forest. Lee, Naruto and Tenten all looked over at Sakura for an answer and were told in a hushed tone as they moved through the trees at a fast pace, "I'll tell you when we get to the village."

Kakashi however was now even more suspicious than ever of their client as he thought of their destination, '_The hidden village of the forest...the guardian village...what are you up to old man_?'


	7. Chapter 7

**The Lost Guardians**

by **Ethan Darkcrow **

**Author's Notes: **Hello everyone! I've just finished this chapter and I hope it's not too long winded for some people. Um...let's see...okay! I'm having some problems with some of the japanese words but all in all I think I'm going a n okay job. However, I would like someone to jive me the japanese word for the forhead protector all the ninjas wear in Naruto. (I've have a hell of a time looking for that word and I was wondering if someone could help me? thank you) Well...enjoy! See ya!

**Chapter Seven - Fiery Surprises**

The sun had long set beyond the ever present horizon, while the group of Konoha ninjas plus one allowed themselves a sigh of relief at the sight that laid before them. Farmland stretched out all the way to a small community of houses and businesses. Everyone, however, was not as happy as they should have been at seeing the refuge from the cold wind and lonely night. In fact, if truth be told, it was Kurenai who had first felt the familiar feeling of a hidden presence. After that each of the members of the group experienced this "feeling" in their own way.

Kakashi was glad that they had found the village, but at the same time he was wary to let his guard down for even a second. This feeling that everyone had been noticing suddenly disappeared as they walked into the village, as if their shadow had decided to remain unseen.

Moving next to Ryuu, Kakashi said quietly, "A scout?"

"Most likely," replied Ryuu with a grimace, "Let's find an inn and get some sleep. Something tells me that tomorrow will not be as uneventful as today."

Kakashi nodded and allowed Kurenai to catch up to him, "You, Ryuuki, and I will be taking shifts tonight, and the last shift will be for Naruto and Lee."

"Understood," said Kurenai as he relayed that information to the gennin on the team.

"Do you think they'll attack tonight?" asked Kakashi as he caught up with Ryuu.

"It's hard to tell with these enemies," said Ryuu as he reached into a belt pocket and removed a large wad of cash. Reaching the middle of town, Ryuu's eye brows perked as he found the something that he was looking for. Walking over to a man who was sitting on the front porch of the convenience store, smoking a pipe, and watching the strangers in front of him with suspicion. Ryuu said in a neutral tone of voice, "Is there a place I can get some room and board?"

The man sucked on his pipe for a moment, as if thinking it over whether to say anything to these strangers, and finally lifted his hand, pointing to a small house that currently was one of the few buildings in the village with it's lights burning.

Thanking the old man they walked into the small building only to find a young man asleep at the counter. While several candles burnt low next to him. Clearing his throat, Ryuuki slapped the counter startling the young man, causing the young man to yell and hit the candle in front of him. The candle wax splashed at Kakashi's feet while the young man apologized profusely and tried his best to clean most of the wax off of the ninjas pants.

"Gomen!" said the young man, as he stood up straight and surveyed the people that were in his business. "Will you be needing a room for the night?" he asked as he fiddled with a small quill and booklet.

"Give us two rooms," said Kakashi while adding, "and make it so they are across from each other."

"Hai!" said the young man as he turned around and check a wooden board that held several bronze keys. "Here you are, sir. Rooms 17 and 18 are across from each other, enjoy your stay!" he said while handing the keys to Kurenai and receiving payment from Ryuuki.

The group quickly settled into their rooms, as it was decided that Ryuu should take the first shift. Shrugging his shoulders in indifference, the old man opened a window and climbed to the buildings roof top with easy.

Kakashi told everyone that he was going to do some scouting and Kurenai left to get some rest. This left three gennin's staring at the fourth with expectant faces. "Well, Sakura?" asked Tenten softly, "What is this Hidden Village of the Forest?"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan? And why do Kurenai and Kakashi-sensei have worried looks on their faces?" Naruto wondered out loud, while Lee nodded in agreement.

"It's an old story that was in a book of legends that I once read," Sakura said slowly as if trying to remember everything, and trying not to leave out anything. "The Hidden Village of the Forest was once a small country that once was thought to have existed in between the countries of Rock, Fire, and Wind before the countries of Bird, Grass, Waterfall and River were created."

"How is that possible?" stated Tenten as she remembered her history lessons and didn't recall anything like that being stated in the text.

"It isn't...that's why it's considered a legend," explained Sakura while looking at the floor.

"Please continue, Sakura-san," encouraged Lee as the other shared his intense look.

"It was said that the hidden village of the forest was once a great nation, filled with powerful shinobi which could rival any of the other great shinobi nations today, but..."

"...but?" asked Naruto sitting on the edge of his seat feeling uneasy as a hush had settled over the four.

"... the book told of a cataclysm of monumental proportions that had struck the village one day. With in a single night, all the people of the hidden village and their nation had suddenly disappeared without a trace." Looking thoughtfully at the ceiling, Sakura ended her tale by saying, "At least, that's what the book had said."

"Where did you find this book?" asked Tenten, still wondering why she had never heard of this legend.

Putting a finger to her cheek Sakura said, "Um, I think it was in an old section of the Konoha Library, but that was when I was ten...so it might have been moved since then."

"What could wipe out an entire nation of shinobi?" wondered Lee while Naruto felt a tug in the pit of his stomach.

"Who knows, but if we really are heading to the real hidden village of the forest then..." Sakura said fading into a quiet mood, while leaving the unsaid question hanging in the air.

"No time to be worrying about that right now," Tenten said suddenly slapping her hand together and dispelling the somber mood that had descended on everyone, while she tapped Sakura on the shoulder. "I think we should get some sleep," offered Tenten as Sakura nodded and then walk out of the room as if she were thinking deeply about something.

"Naruto," Tenten whispered as she gripped the door handle to their room, Tenten was trying to think of the best way of saying what she had to say as she continued on, "be careful of that man."

"Who? Ryuu-sama?" Naruto responded in confusion.

"Yes," said Tenten trying not to seem too strange to the blonde haired ninja, "something about him just doesn't _seem _right. I can't put my finger on it...it's like this feeling I get when ever he around."

"Could it have been something you ate? Sometimes that happens to me as well." Naruto blurted out while Tenten turned away, politely hiding her smile at Naruto's lack of tact.

"Naruto-kun," came Lee serious voice, "I'd listen to Tenten, if I were you. Many times has she saved us from bad predicaments with her great instincts."

Tenten's smile doubled for a moment before she mastered her face and looked over to Naruto, who nodded once and said, "Yosh!"

That night Naruto had found it easy to fall asleep as he remembered what Sakura's words. However, soon he felt a rough hand shake him awake as Lee stood over him while saying as quietly as he could, "Naruto-kun, it is our turn to stand guard over our comrades!"

"O..okay," Naruto yawned loudly while feeling the need to stretch his legs and arms. A pleasant sensation rippled through Naruto's muscles as he let out a small grunt and stood up. He slipped on his shoes just in time to see Lee moving out of the window and climbing the side of the walk on shear physical strength.

When he reached the roof, Naruto was surprised to see Ryuuki smoking a thin wooden pipe while sitting on the edge of the roof. He greeted the boys and then turned back to smoking while Naruto walked over to Lee and asked, "Why is he here if it's our turn to stand guard?"

"Kakashi-sensei said that Ryuu has been awake all this time," Lee stated while casting a wary eye at the older man's back.

Naruto looked at the old man and the turned his head to acknowledge Lee when he heard him say, "I'll take that side if you don't want to be near him, Naruto-kun."

'_Those words_...' Naruto thought in surprise as he remembered sitting on a bench at the local park and playground and hearing those word from the mother of a small girl who looked at Naruto in wonder. "No, I'm alright," the blue eyed boy said with a bit of sorrow tugging at his heart.

"Yosh!" Lee exclaimed and bounded over to the other side of the roof and scanned the area for intruders or enemies.

Naruto turned around slowly, and with a step forward he made his way to the old man who was currently staring at the star filled sky. "Is it your turn for guard duty?" asked Ryuu while tapping out his pipe by snapping it on his wrist.

"Yes," came Naruto's guarded answer, while he sat down next to the man. "Why are you still awake? Can't sleep?"

A sad smile touched Ryuu's face as he looked down at the young boy and lied, "I wish I could...but for some reason or another I just can't seem to sleep through the night." The silence that spread between the two was uncomfortable, but Ryuu broke it by saying, "What about you? Yesterday you looked as if you had a rough night."

"Some nights are better than other," Naruto admitted softly and watched as the old man nodded once and turned his attention to the sky.

"Are we really going to a legendary village?" asked Naruto, while catching Ryuu's attention.

"What's left of it," responded Ryuu with another sad expression clouding his face. "Naruto? Do you like living Konoha?" asked Ryuu as his eyes narrowed when he spit out the name of Naruto's village.

"Sure I do," answered Naruto, automatically while glancing over at the man who seemed to be acting very strange now that Naruto had been making sure to pay attention to him.

"How many other ninja villages have you been to?" asked Ryuu slyly, knowing full well that the boy had probably grown up knowing only what was within the boarders of Konoha.

Frowning at the question, Naruto remained quiet, knowing that his lack of a reply gave Ryuu the answer he was seeking. "Then...," stated Ryuu with renewed optimism, "How do you know that there isn't a better place for you to live than Konoha?"

Naruto hated the confusion that was in his mind at the moment, and he hated the fact that someone was making him feel this way. "I don't, but...but my people who are important to me live in Konoha," said the little ninja with such fiery conviction that it even made Ryuu balk for a second.

"I see," said the man when he realized that he had pushed the boy a bit too far. Putting away his pipe, shifting his weight so that he sat in a better position he said softly, "Sorry."

Naruto looked away from the older man gaze. Those eyes which seemed to hold much pain and loneliness in them, the same eyes that seemed to watch his every move while waiting for a reply. "It's alright," the boy spoke, shaking his head and smiling.

The time that they had spent after their conversation was filled with silence, until Naruto spoke up. "Um...Ryuu-sama?"

"Huh? What?"

"Kakashi-sensei told me that you were a powerful ninja," Naruto stated while trying to get up the courage to ask the older man his original question. "Um...and I was wondering...could you help me with a jutsu that I just learned?" he was embarrassed that he had to ask a complete stranger, but it didn't look as if Kakashi would be training him any katon element techniques any time soon.

"Oh?" said Ryuu in surprise his eyebrows riding high along his brow, while a secret smile formed on his lips. "Sure," he finally said and watched as the blonde smile widely while crying out his happiness. Getting up from his position he watched as the boy got up from his and shook his hand in anticipation at perfecting his jutsu.

"So what jutsu was he teaching you?" Ryuu asked finding a comfortable stance on the slanted roof.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu," Naruto replied with renewed excitement.

Ryuu twisted his head slightly in the direction of the roof's edge and seemed to be listening for something before he turned back to a confused Naruto and said, "I'll help you...but not today. I think it would be better if you had a larger training area. What do you say?"

Naruto deflated a bit at this new information, but quickly rebounded as he then asked with a slight pout, "You promise?"

Scrunching his eyes in a smile, Ryuu said with another nod, "A ninja never goes back on his word."

"Okay," said Naruto as he was still casting the older man a look of suspicion, before he turned away to finish his guard duty.

Ryuu smirked as he watched the boy sit back down at his post, and they in a display of speed and power he vanished from sight only to reappear next to the individual eavesdropping on their conversation. "It seems as though you haven't been as attentive as a sensei should be," Ryuu said directing those harsh words to a silvered haired jounin who was attached to the side of the building.

Kakashi looked at Ryuu with a seemingly expressionless face before he looked lazily away as if saying 'like I can what you think'. Ryuu opened the window the Copy ninja was close to and said in a serious manner before stepping back into the room. "Prepare you group, it seems like..."

"I know," Kakashi interrupted Ryuu, "a group of four have been trailing us."

Tilting his head, Ryuu then asked with a smirk, "What about the other group of four that was trailing the previous group." The silver haired ninja's brow furrowed as contemplated a new factor in the equation that he was thinking of. "In any case, have your group prepare for a long day tomorrow." The man then slid into the window silently while leaving Kakashi to wonder how everything was going to go tomorrow.

The morning light had just peaked over the hillsides as the team of seven ninjas made their way thought the forests near the small village. Using the cover of darkness the group had left in the early hours of the morning while making sure to keep an eye out for the two group of ninjas that seemed to be tracking them.

Luckily for them, it seemed as if their plan had worked as they hadn't sensed any foreign chakra signatures as they sped through the forest canopy while leaving little trace of their movements.

"How far to the checkpoint?" asked Lee while he panted slightly from the exertion that they were all putting forth into making it to this checkpoint before sunset.

"Very far," answered Ryuu in a dry tone as he kept his head forward and eyes sharp for anything suspicious.

'_What kind of answer was that_?' thought Lee as he grimaced lightly while he kept his thoughts to himself and kept jumping with everyone.

Sakura was having the most trouble keeping up with the group as she lagged behind and even needed to rely on both Lee and Naruto to give her piggy back rides every so often. At this moment Naruto was holding her leg as he jumped through the trees with easy. Sakura had been astonished at Naruto's stamina, and was even more impressed at the young blonde ninja as he kept up with the others pace without even losing stride.

'_Jeez! Doesn't he ever get tired_?' thought Sakura as she steadied herself when Naruto landed on a branch and took off into the air again.

Naruto was happy, no...scratch that...Naruto was ecstatic! He was currently grinning from ear to ear as his day had gone from good to great. Not only was he now carrying a girl that he really liked while she hugged her arms around his neck pressing her body against his, but the promise of training hung in the air like a tantalizing carrot in front of a donkey.

Abruptly the forest seemed to end and while the rocky shores of a small river was splayed before them. Kakashi was noting that the terrain had becoming more rocky as they progressed on their journey. Quickly, he calculated that they weren't far from the rain countries border, and with that thought he looked over his shoulder to his group and make a silent signal to continue on by foot.

Naruto set Sakura down with a little disappointment, but all in all he was still happy that he was able to help her. "Standard formation," called out Kakashi's voice as he took point with Ryuu behind him. The gennin's each took flanking positions while Kurenai followed up behind them. They had reached the river with in a short time and soon found a bridge in the south.

In the distance a stone bridge could be seen spanning the river, and the group decided to turn south to use the bridge instead of traversing the fast current of the river. Kurenai was just about to follow the group when she sensed a slight spike of chakra from one of the surrounding trees. "Kakashi!" she yelled as the one eyed jounin was making his way across the whitewashed stone bridge. Suddenly a kunai whizzed by her ear and appeared to sink into the side of the stone bridge. Tied to the back of the kunai was a red tag that flash briefly as it began to sizzle, "Get off the bridge! Explosive tag!"

Not wasting a second, Kakashi hooked his arms around Sakura and Tenten as he jumped from the bridge, while Ryuu, Lee and Naruto jumped back as the explosion rocked the surrounding area.

Kurenai, began a rapid set of seals and released her chakra, suddenly making it seems as if she had disappeared into thin air. Lee got into his natural fighting stance as Sakura and Tenten paired up to stand near each other. Naruto moved to the edge of the water to help Kakashi, as the water current was slowly moving him down the river.

"No! Naruto! Don't come any..."

Too late. Kakashi's warning hadn't gotten to the young boy in time as the silent shadows that seemed to lurk under the water suddenly jumped out at the boy. Luckily, Naruto had slipped when he heard Kakashi's warning the first time, and he barely was able to drop to the ground quickly enough to avoid the thrown shruiken.

The enemy were definitely ninjas, they wore grey and dark blue uniforms and were carrying a numerous amount of weapons with them. It seemed to him that he was just barely able to roll out of the way of his closest enemies attack, as a very spiky looking club slammed into the ground where his body was once positioned.

'_Damn_,' thought Naruto as he dodged another attack and quickly looked around at everyone fighting off other similar looking opponents. '_Wait a second? Similar looking_? _Clones?_' thought Naruto as he moved slightly to his left and avoided a thrown kunai, which just happened to nick his arm. Naruto flew through several of his own hand seals as the ninja in front of him came at him.

"Damn it!" said Ryuu as he dispatched another bushin and looked up to see two ninja who were 'definitely real' baring down on Naruto as the boy went through some familiar seals. '_What the..._' said Ryuu as he watched the little boy have a fierce determination in his eyes while he screamed...

"_Kage Bushin no Jutsu_!" suddenly, to the surprise of the two men charging the boy, six more orange clad ninjas appeared and ran forward with a loud battle cry. The shadow clones ran forward and suddenly took on a two line single file formation as the front two slid at the opponent's feet, the back two jumped high into the air and the final two began, what looked like, a shoulder tackle as they all said, "_Naruto, Never-miss Strike Combo_!"

Sure enough the ninja that were attacked were only able to attack two of the three clones as the first enemy fell to the aerial attack of one of the clones. The other ninja was laid low by the shadow clone that kicked his feet from under him. Slightly daze, the two never saw the finishing blow coming from the remaining "real" shinobi. Naruto plunged into battle with a flying kick directed at the head of the first enemy, and when it connected with a sickening thud. He quickly rolled on the ground and got his bearings as he watched the other shinobi trying to run for cover.

The man never made it to the safety of the forest as something tore open his neck leaving him to bleed out on the ground. Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion before the air around the man shimmered and revealed Kurenai standing over him while she wiped the sticky ichor off her kunai.

"Kurenai-sensei!" called Lee as he bound over to, what seemed to be, the only two 'real' bodies in the whole bunch, "We've dispatched the other bushins."

Kurenai nodded, as she gathered the group up and walked over to where Kakashi and Ryuu were sitting. "What happened back there, Kakashi?"

"It was a modified, lesser form of the Water Prison jutsu," Kakashi answered calmly, but on the inside he was a little angry with himself, as he was still trying to figure out how the user of the technique had known to stay out of sight while using the technique.

"What do you think, scouts?" asked Tenten solemnly while kicking a small pebble into the river before her.

"Most likely," Ryuu said standing up and shouldering his pack, "and there will be more if we sit around like this."

"Did you happen to catch the village that they were from?" asked Naruto so suddenly that everyone quickly turned their heads towards him as the question sunk in. "I didn't see a forehead protector on either of them, yet they fought like ninja," he continued on as if talking to himself.

"Ryuuki-sama? Are these part of the "unknown forces" that are attacking your village?" Kakashi narrowed his eye while asking the older man.

"No," answered the old man while running a hand through his hair, "The ones who have attacked my village are better prepared and more skilled than these...idiots."

"Should we interrogate them?" Tenten wondered out loud.

"No." Kakashi said as he inspected the two men and looked through their belongings, he found several rolled up sheets of paper which turned out to be bounty posters. "Bounty hunters?" Kakashi whispered in surprise as he looked at the men, '_What where they doing by tracking us?_'

"Bind the one that's still alive, and dispose of the body," said Kakashi suddenly as the gennins all snapped to attention and began to carry out his orders. After every single trace of their minor battle had been covered up, they all started to make their way through the rocky terrain again.

As the team moved swiftly along the ground they all began to sense that they were being pursued. Once, Kurenai left the group for a portion of their journey only to return with confirmation of their pursuers. A small band of twelve had been shadowing their every movement and it seemed as if most of them were highly trained. This bit of information made Sakura worried, she was wondering if they would be able to encounter such a large group without sustaining heavy casualties.

"Pick up the pace," called a loud voice from the other end of a grassy field, Ryuu stood several meters away as he continued to call out, "if we make it to Jinbu those thugs will have to hold off their pursuit for a short while."

'_That right_!' thought Tenten when she remembered that the checkpoint at Jinbu was mainly manned by Konoha ninjas, '_Make it to Jibu and we could possibly keep those jerks at bay while we think of a plan_.'

"Alright," said Kakashi as he strapped his pack tightly around his waist, "try to keep up!"

With that last sentence the Konoha ninjas all disappeared from the clearing leaving behind a empty field with swirling dust.

It had been several hours since the group had made it to the checkpoint and were greeted by a familiar face. Morino Ibiki stood before the group telling them that they had just finished a botched spy mission into the sound. He and Kakashi had begun talking about their current situation when Ibiki suggested that his team could track their pursuers for them saying that his team would love a chance to let out some of their pent up frustration.

Kakashi had thanked the tall and imposing man and had began to walk back to the room that had been given to them. Walking in he noticed right away that both Naruto and Ryuu were not in the room. "Where's Naruto?" he asked Sakura in a clam tone, not giving away the fact that he was silently worried for the loud-mouth.

"He said something about training with Ryuu-san," responded Sakura while brushing her hair.

"Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei," Tenten spoke up before he could admonish all of the gennin, "Kurenai is with them."

Visibly loosening up, Kakashi slid over to one of the cots in the room and laid down while covering his good eye. Tenten, Sakura, and Lee all gave each other strange looks at Kakashi's strange behavior, none of them spoke up and instead carried on with perpetration for tomorrow's last leg to the hidden village.

Even as his friends packed and his sensei was currently trying to make sense of this situation and the enigma that was Matsuo Ryuuki, Naruto was at the moment happily smiling and bouncing on the heels of his feet as the older man asked him to go through the seals that his sensei taught him. "Don't gather chakra though," added Ryuu looking down at the boy with a patient eyes

The blonde gennin nodded once and began running through the seals that Kakashi had shown him. When he ended on the tiger seal and looked up at the man's face he saw something he didn't like. A scowl was forming on Ryuu's face, "Did I do something wrong?" he asked the older man and watched as the golden eyed man shook his head slightly as if derailing his train of thought.

"No, you did everything that was needed for Grand Fireball," Naruto noted the sound of the man's voice when Ryuu closed his eyes saying, "but...those seals are different than the ones I learned."

"Really? Are your seals better?" asked Naruto in astonishment. In his head he pictured a simpler form of the technique that he was learning and he imagined that it would create a giant fireball that could destroy giant armies of enemy ninjas. "Ne, ne? Could you show me the seals of your fireball technique, oyaji?" an awed filled Naruto asked, making the old ninja in front of him chuckle lightly.

"Fine," the old man said while asking the young boy to come closer.

Hidden in the shadows, Kurenai was certain that the old man had glanced her way several times with an angry scowl. However, she wasn't about to let the man be alone with the Uzumaki child for any extended period of time. At the moment she watched as Naruto moved closer to Ryuu as he began forming the seals that Naruto wanted to learn with Naruto's own hands. '_Interesting_,' Kurenai thought as she analyzed the old man's teaching, _'he must know that Naruto has a short attention span, but he knows that if he were to somehow get the boy to participate in the action of making each hand seal he wouldn't loose his focus so quickly and therefore will learn the seals much faster_.'

"Did you get the last seal?" asked Ryuu while Naruto nodded his head quietly.

No one had ever gotten this close to him other than the people who had know him for a very long time. Just for a second, he was a little suspicious of the man as he felt Ryuu placing his old leathery hands over his to make the first seal. However, after the sixth or seven seal Naruto began to trust the man, in fact it was because he wasn't worried that he noticed that they were on the tenth and final seal.

"And you end on the Dragon," said Ryuu changing the boys hands to match the hand seal.

"Dragon?" said Naruto, "but I thought..."

"The Tiger seal was used to modify the Goukakyuu jutsu," said Ryuu as he side stepped the blond and sat on the ground.

"Wait!" Naruto suddenly yelled as he added up the hand seals that they did, suprisingly he remembered each of the seals with a kind of crystal clarity that he wasn't use to, but shook that thought off saying, "This jutsu has three more seals that the other jutsu? Why is that!"

Sighing, Ryuu leaned back on a wooden training post that he had positioned himself in front of and said in a wise tone, "The Uchiha bastardize the Goukakyuu for their own purposes, and because of that...the true jutsu has undergone several changes over the generations of that family."

"Then...is there a difference between the two jutsus?" asked Naruto almost wondering if learning this new technique would be worth the trouble of memorizing the hand seals.

"Hmmm..." hummed the old man while rubbing his masked chin and then finally saying, "The Uchiha's jutsu is by far the faster of the jutsus, but because they lack key seals the jutsu is lacking in 'usefulness'. If what you are looking for is a multi-purpose technique that can have some 'kick' to it, then I suggest that you learn my way. What do you say?"

Naruto thought it over for about ten seconds before he said, "I'll learn your way, what do I do?"

Getting up from his position he then asked Naruto to go through the seals ten times. Kurenai watched as Naruto almost went through the first time without so much as a mess up. The second time was even better, and by the fifth he had the seal progression down pat, even though it was a bit slow for ninja standards.

When he was done with the ten time, Ryuu walked over to the boy and patted his shoulder saying, "Your pretty good, did you know that?"

The remark made Naruto smile as he blushed a bit and said in embarrassment, "Thanks, oyaji."

"Now," Ryuu said trying to keep the focus on the training, while not giving the boy a fat head, "when using a elemental technique you must focus your chakra on a type of emotion that will trigger the elements release. This bit of information will serve to enhance you technique and give you more stability in using the jutsu, do you understand?"

"I think so?" Naruto said in an unsure way before rubbing the back of his head and giving the older man a confused stare.

"In other words, Naruto. If you are going to use a fire technique you must have a feeling of passion in you. Be it love, appreciation, acceptance, contentment or any other passionate feeling; with those feelings you'll be able to better control the element. Earth jutsu rely on feelings of confidence and protectiveness. Water jutsu feed off of calmness, tranquillity, and feelings of adaptation. Wind jutsu seem to get stronger with balance strong emotions and deep thoughts." Ryuu the turned back to make sure the boy had heard only to see the boy staring at the older man in awe.

"Are you ready to try the technique?"

"Osu!" said Naruto as marched over to a large stone in the training field. Remembering the word that Ryuu-sama told him. Searching his past Naruto found a feeling that he felt fit the description that the old ninja gave him. Holding on to that feeling Naruto began building his chakra and slowly ran through the seals that he had practiced. On the last seal Naruto said loudly, "_Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu_!" as he released the chakra in his body and watched as a brilliant stream of fire exited his mouth to create a bright orange fireball. The ball of fire slammed into the sone causing it to at first shatter a bit, before the heat of the fireball melted half of its side into a molten puddle which cooled after the jutsu ended.

"Hn, that must have been one powerful emotion," Ryuu said as he walked over to where Naruto stood stock still, shocked that the technique had work. Laying a hand on the boys shoulder he felt him twitch slightly at the contact, but then relax. "Mind if I ask what you were thinking of at that moment?"

Naruto, look at his feet as he slowly mumbled three words, "My best friend."

Naruto wasn't the only person who was shocked at the moment. Currently Kurenai was still gawking at the amount of damage Naruto had done to the slab of stone. Currently she was experiencing a feeling of deja vu, she felt as if she was back in the chuunin exam and was watching this apparent dropout pull off something that no one ever thought he'd be able to do.

Kurenai was snapped out of her thoughts when Ryuu slapped his hands together and told Naruto to get some sleep. Giving the man a nod and a smile, Naruto withdrew from the training ground and walk back to the room that they all shared. When he left Kurenai watched as the old man slowly pulled off his mask and said in a confident manner, "You can both come out now. I know you're there."

Kurenai watched as the shadows of a wall receded to expose a familiar silver hair jounin while she dispelled her own technique and walked over to Kakashi. "Matsuo..." began Kakashi, but he was quickly interrupted but the up raised hand of the older man in front of him.

"I know what your going to ask," Ryuu said in a tired voice. "Your answer is that we will leave as scheduled and travel to the forest northwest of here."

"That's not what I'm worried about," said Kakashi in a cold voice, as he summed up his worries with one name, "Naruto?" Kurenai watched at the man in front of them clenched his fists and literally shivered in anger.

"I _hate_ all of you," said the man slowly, as he produced a focused aura of anger which hung around him like a protective shroud and made Kurenai step back a bit in caution, "none of you deserve to have him as one of your comrades or friends. I aim to fix that problem."

"Then I'll have to stop you," said Kakashi as he seemed to radiate a killing intent that clashed against Ryuu's aura, but pale in comparison to the old mans.

The old man laughed at what Kakashi said, as he turned around and gazed at both Konoha jounin while he said, "You're welcomed to try, kid!"

Kakashi's eye opened in shock at what he was seeing on the man's face, which made him wonder "what the hell" was going on. Kurenai's face was also unmistakably in shock as she looked upon the face of the golden eyed ninja standing a few feet before the pair and said in but a hushed whisper...

"Those marks...but how..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Lost Guardians**

by** Ethan Darkcrow **

**Author's Note:** Wow! This chapter is super long...I think? Well, I hope you enjoy it...especially the ending! Muwahahahahaha!

**Chapter Eight - EEHHHHH!**

Last night revelation had Kakashi in a foul mood this morning as he bandaged his ankles and slipped on his open toed sandals, '_What does this mean_?' he thought for the twentieth time this morning as he sent another glance at the old ninja in the corner. '_Damn it, Hokage_!' Kakashi cursed to himself, '_You should have given me more information_!'

Naruto was smiling ear to ear as he quietly was running through the new hand seals that he had been taught just last night. Waking a little after midnight, he had gone out to the practice field and done some exercises as well as trying out the jutsu again. He remembered bringing a memory of Sasuke to his mind as he quickly went through the seals only to, again, produced a large fireball that slammed again into the small training stone.

He had been so happy with his success that he had started to "play" around with the jutsu for the remainder of his training time. Fooling around with the jutsu, Naruto had discovered that if he used lesser emotions or none at all his fireball was smaller, but much easier to aim. He also found, by accident, that while holding his hand in a certain way — he had seen Sasuke do it once or twice — he could concentrate the flames like a in a jet of flame instead of one large fireball.

His training and fun had been inturrupted when Lee appeared smiling his famous smile and saying something like, "Naruto! Will you use you spring time of youth to engage me in some sparring?" Or something like that. He recalled that he had decided that he could use some taijutsu training and smiling while saying, "Sure"

Lee's early workout was tough and the sparring was even worst, but Naruto left feeling satisfied at his progress. Lee had been very frank and told him that his taijutsu was lacking in some areas, but that he had done very well for their sparring session. He even had asked if Naruto would be his sparring partner for the remainder of the journey, to which the blonde had grinned and said, "You bet!"

"Naruto," called a females voice behind him, "are you ready yet?" Sakura stood over Naruto expecting the young boy to be only half way through his pack, and when she saw him stand and shoulder a pack while grinning she could only frown slightly as she thought, _'He's already ready? This is a bad omen_!'

Ryuuki hadn't left Naruto's side once through the entire morning, which was making Kaskashi's and Kurenai's job that much harder. Both wanted to warn the group about Ryuu and also wanted to make sure that Naruto knew of the man's motive, but they wanted to do it privately and without the chance of interruption. Kakashi ordered the group to move out when they had received a communication bird telling him that Ibiki had been successful in slowing down their pursuers. Sensing that neither jounin wouldn't get the chance to talk to Naruto in private while Ryuu was around, Kakashi decided that he would have to wait for the proper moment.

It was because of this that Kakashi assigned Kurenai to tag along Ryuu up front while he lagged behind as their rear guard. "But Kakashi that would mean..." he almost could remember Kurenai's voice as she looked at him in a confused manner.

"_I know what it means, but I have confidence that you'll be able to hand the situation "if" it arises." Kakashi calmly said with a lazy expression on his face while he held a familiar orange book, then noted that his expression wasn't fooling the female jounin._

"_So...you want me to play decoy, is that it?" the red eyed brunette asked with a bit of cold anger creeping into her voice. The woman's facial expressions were to an outsiders eyes still in a neutral position, but to Kakashi's trained eye he saw a slight twitch of annoyance creeping into her jaw muscles every so often._

_Sighing, while he put away the orange book, Kakashi had nodded affirmatively while backing up that motion by saying, "Yes."_

_Kurenai, being the ever consummate professional ninja, narrowed her eyes while quickly nodding her head once. She then walked over to the other party members and told them of the change. 'Sorry to have to pull rank on you like this Kurenai, but I need this position to talk to Naruto,' Kakashi thought while tightening the straps of his backpack and looking at his fellow jounin, 'Besides, he might not take this news too well, seeing how he's getting along fine with Ryuu. I think it would be better if he heard it from someone that he know better.'_

_Raised eyebrows and golden eyes stared back at Kakashi when Kurenai had taken his place at the front of the formation. 'No doubt he already knows what this switch is for,' Kakashi rattled off in his brain, 'better make this count.'_

They had been going for half a day nonstop and Kakashi was still feeling the slight sense of chakra coming from the same direction that they had been running from. '_Damn! They have to be very good if they managed to pick up the trail so quickly after being dispersed by Ibiki's group. Not good_,' Kakashi surmised looking forward and seeing that a head of them was a thick forest. '_Now's my chance_!' said Kakashi as he saw that Ryuu was currently to preoccupied with directing the group through the terrain. Moving quickly, Kakashi ran up next to Naruto and tapped him once on the shoulder.

Looking up Naruto saw his teacher signal him to fall back with him. Not questioning his sensei's action, Naruto slowed down a bit until they were quite a way's behind the group. "Naruto," said Kakashi not even looking at his blonde student, "You need to know that Ryuu-sama is not who he seems to be."

"What? What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto, confused at his sensei's words while his eyes seemed to lock onto Ryuu's running form.

"What I mean, is that you should be careful when around him, and you should never be with him alone. Do you understand that?" the grey haired ninja said trying not to give away too much of what he knew already.

"Did he do something wrong? Was it something I did..." asked the gennin while he kept up with his sensei and seemed to be getting more and more confused. '_Why would he help me if he's someone that I have to be wary of?_' wondered Naruto while he nodded automatically and saw Kakashi crinkle his eye at him.

Looking away from Naruto Kakashi saw that they had made it to the forest and were traveling along a well worn trail when suddenly Ryuu spun around in mid-jump. When his feet touched the branch that he landed on he propelled himself forward at such speed that even Kakashi was having a hard time following his movement.

Pulling his kunai out and preparing for the attack Kakashi realized as he stood in his attack stance that he wasn't coming for him. "Damn it!" Kakashi yelled as he swivelled in place and quickly gathered chakra to his legs and feet to propelling himself forward in an attempt to block whatever plan this man was thinking of.

"Kakashi!" yelled out Kurenai while the others could only watch as the two high leveled ninja seemed to be both heading for Naruto.

'_I'm not going to make..._' the copy nin's thought fell short when he saw Ryuu pull the confused boy to the ground. However, his answer, to the confusion that he was experiencing, came in the form of two arrow shafts being deflected by a pulse of chakra that the golden eyed man had released with perfect timing.

"Regroup!" yelled Kakashi as he, Ryuu and Naruto all regrouped with the other members of the team. '_Why couldn't I feel their chakra signatures_?' wondered Kakashi while keeping his eyes open and his senses heightened.

"Don't feel bad, gaki. I was barely able to feel them," Ryuu said with a smirk, as he seemed to know what was going through Kakashi's mind.

"How many?" asked Tenten trying to estimate numbers as she tugged lightly on the buttons on her sleeves, opening them up to reveal that she had used a sort of scroll to bandage her forearm with. Biting her thumb she rubbed the blood across two seals as three kunai appeared out of no where.

"From what I can sense," said Kurenai darting her eyes back and forth from tree to tree, "there's seven...no, eight...wait...nine, there's nine and they all seem to be quiet powerful."

"Ryuu are these..." began Kakashi, but he was interrupted by Ryuu's gravely voice.

The old man rolled his eyes, saying in an annoyed tone, "Well, this is definitely not the welcoming party, now is it?" Ryuu's eyes narrowed suddenly as he tilted his head while looking at the forest behind him. Golden eyes snapped open in shock, as Ryuu looked up in time to see a shadowy figure jumping above the group from a hidden spot in the forests canopy. The ninja came hurdling down at everyone while throwing several kunai and effectively scattering the group into individuals.

Ryuu didn't have time to see where Naruto had gone as the figure sped forward and attacked him with a kunai. Metal clanged on metal as Ryuu smoothly drew his kunai and block the clumsy opponents attack. However, he soon figure out why his opponent had made such a direct attack when another arrow shot through the forest. The arrow had only clipped his shoulder, because he had used some of his chakra to push himself away from his kunai wielder. _'Damn! That would have caught me in the chest if I hadn't perceived that last attack_,' Ryuu said to himself in anger while sizing up his opponent. He then continued on evaluating the situation as he slid into an attack posture, '_So this nin likes keeping an opponent busy while is comrade fires off arrows into them, huh_?'

The ninja smile as he started to quickly create some hand seals and said, "_Doton, Rokkuya no Jutsu_!" Stamping his foot on the ground, Ryuu watched as several shafts of earth came spitting out of the ground. Earthen arrow shafts seemed to pelt the old man but in a puff of smoke it was then revealed that they had hit nothing more than a rather large stump of a tree.

Using a minor genjutsu, Ryuu had managed to sneak behind the ninja. Pulling out his kunai in order to strike a fatale blow Ryuu swore loudly as another arrow almost pierced his leg and kept him from attacking while allowing his opponent to gain his bearings. Growling his displeasure at fighting these 'underlings' Ryuu sped into the forest to follow where that arrow had come from as he thought murderously, '_I'll kill the annoyance and that'll leave me the weakling_.'

From the moment he had back flipped away from the ninja that had fallen from above them, Kakashi had been trying to keep his objectives straight. However, seeing the two ninja that were pair against him made him feel that keeping his objectives straight were the least of his problems. The first ninja was bald and was wearing light black armor, but what stuck out was that the ninja had to have stood over six and half feet tall. As the ninja readied himself into a taijutsu stance, Kakashi then caught a glimpse of this mammoths partner. A willowy female, who look rather sickly, stood behind the brutish ninja as she readied several hand seals that Kakashi had never seen before.

Finishing her hand seals she touched her partner and the monstrous man suddenly shot forward as if he had been propelled out of a cannon, smashing his fist into the ground. His fist causing a shockwave to ripple through the ground while it pulverizing the impacted ground into a fine dust.

'_Whoa! Better not get hit_!' the copy nin made a mental not while jumping away from the giant man. '_They're working in a team formation. They must have worked together for a long time_,' he thought while watching the woman flipping through several more hand seals. Kakashi had already lifted his hitai-ate and activated his sharingan only to witness some of the woman's chakra gathering in her eyes while she swept the area.

"The tree to you left, Genji!" the woman cried out suddenly, while she threw several throwing knives into the tree making Kakashi jump out of the way as quickly as he could. Baldy had started a series of hand seals, only stopping to yell and slap his hands together, "_Hoeru Raimei no Jutsu_!"

A concussive wave of sound and invisible force radiated from the man's overly large hands. Unfortunately, Kakashi was caught in the attack and thrown several feet back. Rolling to his right he barely dodged several more throwing knives and had even had enough sense to catch one and throw it back at his attackers.

The world swayed slightly as he got to his feet and watched as his opponent nodded silently, as if they had already known what the other was going to do. '_This will not do_,' thought Kakashi as he pondered how they had got him to go on the defense. Not caring to be at the receiving end of another combination, the copy nin slid through several seal and slammed his palms together as the leaves in the forest swirled around him and then fell leaving an empty spot as if every trace that the Konoha ninja was there had just disappeared

Kurenai had been confused at Ryuu's actions at first, but when she saw the ninja over head she quickly drew her kunai out and used a chakra enhanced jump to clear the area. Luckily for her, that jump gave her excellent placement as she spotted two ninja's running to where she used to be. Not giving it any second thought, Kurenai ran down the tree trunk and intercepted both ninjas. Surprise showed on both their faces when she jumped out of the tree and caught the closest one in the shoulder with her weapon.

Both opponents took evasive measures and hopped, jumped or dodged to safety before she could unleash another attack. Kurneai reached into her sack and threw a smoke bomb which allowed her to hide her presence from the other nin's, but she was completely caught off guard when a branched snapped behind her and a poorly thrown knife sailed just past her head.

'_How did they get behind_ _me_?' she wondered as she took to the branches only to be met with clones of one of her enemies. Wearing a full facial mask the man waited patiently as he turned his head in the direction of Kurenai. Quickly running though a genjutsu seal combination, she was surprised to see that the man didn't even show the slightest pause in his attack when she created a illusion of falling from the tree.

The man nicked her face when he swung his knife and she dodged by tipping backwards and falling through the branches of the tree. "What is going on!" she said angrily when she watched the man cling to a tree and slowly tilt his head at her. However, a rush of sound and a blast of force suddenly had her holding onto her precious grip. Checking where that blast had come from she saw that Kakashi was having his own troubles, before she looked up and caught the man reeling around as if the sound and blast of force had affected him in a negative way.

Her eye suddenly glinted in understanding as she realized why her genjutsu didn't work, _'He's blind and deaf! That's was the reason for the mask! He must be able to interpret vibrations and sound waves as mental images, and that's why he's in pain right now_! _Sensory overload_!' Reaching into her hip pack she pulled out three shruikens and quickly threw them at the prone opponent, but was reminded that there was one more enemy that she had forgotten about. Each of her shurikens seemed to get knocked out of the air as silvery cords shot through the foliage.

A female voice tsked at her when the female counter part to the man landed lightly on a branch nest to him while saying, "Stupid Genjin! He'll pay for this...but first..." The female nin turned her head to reveal a set of violet eyes gazing their way into Kurenai soul.

It was in this instance that Kurenai knew that this wasn't going to be an easy fight.

"My fire's of youth will not fade from existence!" yelled Lee as faced off against one of the enemy nin's and had his round house kick blocked. "You'll only sever to fan my youthful fire into a raging inferno of springtime exuberance!"

"Kid! Shut up and fight already!" said the masked ninja while jumping back and throwing several well placed kunai. The green beast of Konoha took his time to kick each of his opponents kunai's with his weight covered shins, and then dropped to a fighting stance that anyone from Konoha knew as the Strong fist style. He was quickly met with the sight of his enemy running through hands seals and he decided to attack the man before he could finish those seals.

"Aaaaaaahh!" yelled Lee as he sped forward at a frightening speed and crouched low to the ground as he growled, "Konoha Reppuu!" Shoot out his leg, Lee spun his body and made a sweeping motion as the nin in front of him abandoned his jutsu to back flip over Lee's leg. "You must be a proficient taijutsu user to dodge that attack", said Lee with out a hint of sarcasm, as the man across from him gathered himself into a strange stance allowing his cupped hands to sway forward and back as if their were independent of their body.

It was the twitch of Lee's brow that lead the two ninjas to clash in the small opening that they had. The man shot forward low to the ground keeping his arms cocked until he reached Lee's position. The attack that the man made with his hands were a blur, but to Lee's expert eye he could track everyone of them and managed to block most of them. However, those that got through actually stung as if he had got poked with a sharp instrument. Checking himself he found that there was no damage, but the pain that radiated from the attacks was still present.

"Hebikamitsuki, no?" grounded out Lee as the man across from him looked on in mild surprise.

"And how would you know of the Snakebite Fist, kid?" asked the man while not relaxing his stance and watching his prey warily.

Standing up and rolling his shoulders, Lee smile and said, "My sensei knows much about the styles of his opponents! So it is natural for him to teach me about them as well!" Rearranging his stance back into his Strong Fist style, Lee flashed a smile while he said, "Now, shall we try that again?"

Sakura and Tenten were back to back watching their foes close in on their position while holding a similar formation. Both girls had their weapons draw and were ready for anything when an explosion of sound and wave of force blew through the forest disorientating them. Tenten was the first to stand and react as she pulled on her chained kunai, making it swing through the air in a deadly arc, and keeping the two ninja in front of her at bay while giving Sakura time to recover from the blast.

"What the heck was that!" Sakura yelled as she stood up holding out her kunai at chest level.

"That's the sound of one of you teammates dying," sneered one of the ninjas in front of the two girl, as he pulled out a sharp looking blade and quickly sliced the chain that was keeping him and his partner from getting at the two gennins.

Cursing loudly, Tenten whipped the chain around once more but changed the height of the chain and watched as it wrapped around the closer of the two opponents. The fact that it was the ninja that had mouthed off at the two girls was just a bonus in Tenten's eyes.

She gave a quick jerk on the chain and in one fluid motion she brought the surprised man to his knees, while she pulled out her own kunai and ran forward to capitalize on the man's confusion. However, what she didn't see was her other enemy was silently flanking her. She was only two steps away from neutralizing the first target when a grunt could be heard from behind her. Stopping her forward progression she quickly skipped to the side avoiding a fatale blow from a rather large spiky club. Tenten turned a bit more and saw that Sakura was just getting up from planting a well placed flying kick to the man's back, which must have caused him to lose his balance and aim.

"Tenten, behind you!" called out Sakura as the enemy ninja, who was once prone, thrust his sword into her. The man's smile faded quickly when a popping sound reached his ears and was replaced with a low hissing noise, as smoke surrounded him and obscured his vision.

"Damn it! A substitution," the man barked as the smoke cleared. However, when he saw what was on the end of his sword, words seemed to fail him. Hissing slightly at the end of his sword was a rather large paper-mache ball that had several metal tips sticking out all over it 's body. And what caught the ninja's attention was what looked like the largest explosive note he hade ever seen stuck to the side of this home made fragment bomb.

"SAKURA DOWN!" yelled a voice over head. Sakura obeyed, with out even thinking, as the hissing sound stopped.

"Shi..." the masked ninja cursed as he dropped his sword and began to run from the clearing. He had only gotten a few steps before the bomb went off in a spectatular show of light, sound and force.

Even though she had been laying on the ground, Sakura felt the head of one of those metal tips tear a gash along her left arm and leg., but even so she was glad that she wasn't the one who had caught the full brunt of the explosion and it's deadly contents.

Tenten dropped from the trees welding a set of long daggers and scanned the area for the last of their opponents. She noted the smoking body of the ninja who had caught the full force of the bomb and then saw a small trail of blood leading to...the forest behind her!

Before she was ready a ninja wearing clawed gauntlets burst out of the shrubbery screaming in fury, "I will tear your heart out for killing my brother!"

Naruto could hear the sound of battle erupting all around him, while he clasped a hand to his right arm. The aforementioned arm was currently twitching as blood leaked out of a deep wound that ran from his shoulder to his elbow. Pushing the pain away Naruto focused on his surroundings while he tried to pinpoint where his enemy was hiding. '_Damn it! Of all people I have to get a stupid genjutsu user_,' Naruto barked angrily in his head as he quickly spun around only just barely avoiding another deep wound when a kunai flew at him as the ninja seemed to disappear into the forest without a trace.

'_I can't follow him with my eyes_!' thought the blond in frustration, while still keeping his guard up and hearing screams and yells from the other battles that raged in this forest. Not wanting to stand around and become a human practiace dummy Naruto flipped through several seals before saying, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

The shadows of the forest suddenly came alive as the coalesced into the familiar form of a certain loud mouthed ninja. Standing in the center of six perfect clones Naruto said while pointing in the directions that he wanted his clones to take, "Spread out and search for the rotten bastard!"

No sooner did Naruto finish his sentence when he felt one of his clones disappear. The ninja was systematically destroying the clones that were suppose to be finding him. Naruto grimaced as he felt his one of his last clones disappear. Taking up a defensive stance, he was almost sure that the man would come in for another attack while trying to cripple him.

Like clock work Naruto heard the bushes behind him rustle. Spinning around quickly and throwing up his defense, Naruto was surprised when he didn't see anything coming at him. That was, until he felt a presence behind him. Looking behind him he saw a lanky man with purple markings on his forehead and chin grin as he drove his daggers into Naruto's gut.

The man watched with pleasure as the little boy slumped to the ground, but his face changed to fear when the body disappeared in a puff of grey-white smoke. "What the hell!" the man exclaimed as several orange blurs popped out of the tree branched and came hurdling down at the man.

Cursing in frustration he saw that the real blonde was slowly going through several seals not more that ten yards away. The clones doubled their attacks as the man battled through them trying to make it to the boy before he released what ever jutsu he had planned. Two clones bit the dust when the man threw two kunai's at Naruto. '_Damn he's better than I thought_,' the man said to himself while still running through the clones as best as he could.

Naruto was close to finishing his jutsu, but he still had three seal left and his opponent seemed to be moving through his clones a little too fast. Eighth seal, Ram. The man dodged one kage bushin and made another disappear with a well placed kick. Ninth seal, Bird. His enemy had evaded the last bushin and was speeding to ward Naruto. Tenth seal, Dragon!

"Katon, Gokakyuu no Jutsu!" yelled Naruto as he hurriedly formed the seal and breathed out...nothing. Nothing had happened! The chakra in his body had built up and had seemed to have been release through his mouth, but the chakra didn't convert to fire. '_Crap! I messed up_!' said Naruto while jumping out of the way of the man's thrown daggers.

The enemy ninja had expected to be enveloped in a fire of some sort when he heard the word "katon" being yelled loudly. When nothing came, he got his bearings and began his assault on the boy again.

"Shoot!" Naruto screamed as he dodged the man's dagged again while he softly said, "Just how many of those does he have?" Just them Naruto saw the man running though his own seals as he remembered the man favored using illusions while he growled, "I have to stop him." Throwing a kunai at the man interrupting his seals Naruto rushed in trying to keep him from finishing his jutsu. Angry that he wasn't able to pull off his jutsu the enemy nin jumped back trying to defend himself against the horde of shadow clones that the young boy created. Soon the man found himself surrounded, as Naruto would create more clones to replace those that were destroyed.

The sound of battle still rung through the forest while Naruto and the man faced off for several seconds. Then, as if deciding what to do, two clones on opposite sides of the circle ran towards the man. The clone that remained unseen dropped to all fours behind the man as the one that garnered the man's attention shot forward and punched the man. The punch was not meant to hurt the nin but rather to tip him over the clone that was positioned behind him. As the man fell over the clone behind him the other clone went into action. Four clones sped forward with chakra boosts and slid on the ground as they each called out a syllable to a name, "U - zu - ma - ki!" Their combined kicks send the man into the air where the last clone, who had jump off the back of his comrade that delivered the punch, was waiting while spinning forward with his heel which slammed into the prone ninja face.

The man spat out several teeth and blood, as he began his fall to the ground. He had taken too much damage from the combination to continue on with the fight, but he knew that he was far from being beaten. That is...until he saw what was waiting for him on the ground.

Directly below him he saw the boy now holding a blue sphere of what looked, and felt, like pure chakra while his clone seemed to be "pumping" even more chakra into the unknown jutsu. Fear was running through him as he tried to assess the situation in his mind while trying to find a way out of his predicament, but he could only watch as the orb of blue chakra drew closer while his eyes widened.

When the nin's body was in reach, Naruto cocked back his arm and slammed him with the swirling chakra orb. "_Uzumaki Rasengan Rendan_!" Naruto screamed, and watched as the man slowly began to spin with the orb until he was send backwards spinning through several thick trees before hitting a older tree with a resounding crash and falling to the ground in a heap at the base of the tree trunk.

"Bastard!" Naruto spat as he heard a scream from some nearby trees. Dashing off, Naruto was hoping that none of his teammates had gotten hurt and was not even paying attention to the serious gash that had managed to heal itself completely during the battle.

Lee was having a hard time keeping his opponent down as the man interchanged ninjutsu's with his taijutsu style. Slowly the enemy was wearing him down, it became more obvious at the man began to get pass his defenses. Not to mention that the man's taijutsu style was beginning to take it's effect. Every hit felt painful to Lee, as he remembered his teacher telling him that the Snakebite style focused on damaging nerves in the body to create "hypersensitivity" with in an opponent. Lee now understood what Gai-sensei was talking about as every hit the ninja delivered was unbelievably painful and the pain didn't seem to go away like before. Instead, it lingered on like a annoying ache in the spot where the enemy ninja had attacked.

Jumping out of the way of a wind elemental jutsu, Lee rushed forward and threw a punch at the man's face, but all he hit was air as Lee watched him sink into the ground. The green beast of konoha jumped up on a tree branch as he once again tried to locate his enemy, but was surprised when he felt a presence behind him. "What...?" spinning around he was able to barely defend against the kunai thrown at him. His reaction time wasn't quick enough to dodge the kunai entirely and the weapon sliced open his shoulder.

Pain blossomed over Lee's body as he tried to jump from the branch and found that his body wasn't responding as well as he thought it should. '_I cannot lose to this man_!' thought Lee as another wave of pain shook through him. _'Focus! Pain is but a feeling. Something that is controlled by the mind! Focus_!' Lee slowly felt the pain in his body ebb away, even though his body was still shaking for the pain it seemed as if Lee had blocked it out from his mind. He then stood up and opened his eye, steely resolve glaring in the round orbs, as he kicked backwards sending his invisible opponent sailing through the air.

The man landed on the ground and gripped his sides grunting in pain as he felt that his ribs had been shattered with that kick. The bowl hair styled boy didn't even give his opponent time to get up as he rushed in and delivered a soaring axe kick to where the man laid panting on the ground. Blocking the attack, the man held onto Lee's foot only to watch the boy planted his hands on the ground and kick out with his free leg at his head.

Lee's foot connected with the man's face knocking the man back several feet, while he thought, '_That had to hurt_!' Fuzzy eyebrows watched as the man stood up and stumbled a bit before slowly making several hand seals. "Shoot! I forgot about his ninjutsu!" Lee growled as he quickly jumped up, wincing slightly as he felt some of his pain return, running at his enemy in the attempt to stop him before he finished his seals.

Knowing that he would be too late if he kept up this way Rock reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it. Lee threw the kunai while the man held his last seal while seeming to concentrate. The man watched as his enemy threw a kunai that seemed to abysmally off target, and was about to finish his seal when an explosion threw him forward, as well as off balance, into his now charging opponent.

Lee came running at the ninja with incredible speed, and when he was within several feet he spun once while landing a single punch to the enemy nin's chest while crying out, "_Dai Hone Oshitsubusu_!" Cracking sounds could be heard coming from the man's bodyas his eyesrolled up and he spat up blood.

Lee turned his back on his enemy and closed his eyes as he said, "I am sorry, but you will not be getting back up from that attack." Sure enough the man struggled futilely before subcoming to unconsciousness. Lee breathed out a sigh of relief before he was wracked with all the pain that he had been ignoring.

"Gejimayu?" called a voice from behind Lee that had him feeling better already. Only one person he knew would call him that nickname, and as he turned around an saw a beaten up blonde haired nin staring into his face he couldn't help but smile slightly while more pain filtered through his body.

"Naruto-kun," said Lee as he tried to stand up and found it difficult at best. Lee heard some shuffling from Naruto and saw that he pulled out a small container that looked familiar for some reason. Naruto opened the little round container in his hand and pulled out one pill while hand it to Lee. "Hopeful this will restore some of your strength. Usually I have to take more than one, but they work wonders for me when I'm very tired," said Naruto as he closed the container and placed it back into his pouch.

Lee stared at the pill for a moment grimacing lightly, he had never liked taking medicine in any form. However, since one of his friends had shown some worry at his state he quickly shook away any apprehension and ate the pill.

Lee now understood why Naruto was filled with energy all the time. The moment he had bit into the pill it was like a rush of endorphin has flowed through his body sending it into overdrive! The pain in his body seemed to almost fade completely while his energy levels skyrocketed. "I FEEL IT! MY FIRE OF YOUTH HAS BECOME A RAGING SUN OF SPRINGTIME PASSION!" yelled Lee while jumping around like a mad man.

'_Whoops! Maybe I should have giving him half a pill_,' Naruto wondered as he watched his green spandex wearing friend yell at him while it seemed like he couldn't stand still for one moment, '_After all, Tsunade bachan did tell me that those pills should only be taken by me...ah well_,' The two ninja heard another explosion take place and watched as smoke began to rise in the distance, speeding up the both hope that their teammates were unharmed or that they could help.

'_He's good_.' thought Tenten as she dodged another set of attacks from her now completely enraged opponent. The metallic clawed gauntlets whooshed by her face as she again narrowly escaped their deadly touch. '_He's too good_!' Tenten frowned as he flipped backwards and reset his stance.

Looking to her right, Tenten saw that Sakura was still treating the three claw marks that the man had made on her leg when she go too careless. Unfortunately, both of them weren't prepared for the surprise that the pink haired kunoichi received, but when she buckled over with cramps in her stomach both realized what that meant. Poison. The enemy must have coated his claws with a contact poison and was hoping to incapacitate both of the girl and kill him at his leisure, but he must have been surprised when Sakura began using an unknown jutsu to treat herself while Tenten kept the man busy.

"Almost finished?" asked Tenten as she deflected yet another attack from the ninjas swift claws with her wicked looking set of kris daggers. The ninja again move out of the reach of bunned weapon master's daggers and waited as he saw the weaponless girl stand up.

"Yeah," Sakura panted and stood up while the ninja came in again for another attack while doing something with his hands. Sakura eyes widened as she yelled, "Ninjutsu!" Tenten's eyes flickered briefly as the man finished his seals while fisting his hand and holding out his arms.

"_Kai_!" the man screamed as the two gauntlets detached from his hands and shot at Sakura. She had dodged the first fist but then realized that she had fallen directly into the path of the second fist. Tenten threw her kris daggers but both were deflected by kunais thrown by the enemy nin.

The fist of the gauntlet had reshaped itself where all the fingers of the hand bunched up next to each other in order to create a point. '_If that hit's her..._' thought Tenten while imagining the damage such a hit could do. The weapons master shook her head as she pulled out more kunais and tried to launch them, however her opponent wouldn't let her as he intervened and attacked her.

Sakura watched the gauntlet making it way to her and just before it was about to hit her she let out a blood cuddling scream. Tenten winced and didn't want to look but a familiar voicecalled out, as she saw the ninja in front of her pale a bit, "Geez, Sakura-chan! Wake the dead why don't you, dattebayo!"

Sakura opened he eyes to see...green and when she focused a bit her eyes rested on the warm smile of Rock Lee as he glanced away, "Sakura-san. Didn't I tell you as long as I'm around I'd protect you?" Sakura followed Lee's gazed and saw the gauntlet crushed under his fist. Looking past Lee she saw Naruto eyeing the now apprehensive enemy ninja.

"Tenten? Do you have this?" asked Naruto seeing that Tenten wasn't as wounded as Sakura. The brunette haired girl smiled as she nodded her head and mentally thanked Naruto for not treating her like a "weak" girl. "If you get in trouble we'll step in," Naruto said as a reminder and went over to check up on Sakura.

Tenten smiled as she turned her attention to the ninja and watched as he quickly pulled out several glass senbon that seemed to have a liquid in them. Opening a scroll she bit her thumb and wiped it across a section as a puff of smoke erupted while what sounded like a length of chain hitting the ground seemed to echo through the clearing. The ninja readied his senbon as he waited to see what weapon the girl had pull out this time. However, he was really surprised when a length of small chained rods came shooting out of the smoke before it had fully disappeared. "What the...?" the man yelled as he jumped backwards, but not far enough as the dart tipped end of the chained whip pierced his chest.

Letting out a bellow of anger the man threw his senbon's at the other of the group while and smirked as the girl lashed out with he whip breaking the glass causing the liquids in the senbon's to pour out and mix. Suddenly a green gas started to appear where the liquids had fell and mixed.

Tenten saw the man smile as he watched the smoke seem to kill a vegetation in the area as it slowly crept it's way to the weapon masters friends and comrades. Puling her whip back Tenten closed her eyes and went through several hand seal as she picked up her whip and snapped it at the gas. Just before it hit the gas Tenten snapped her wrist causing the whip to swirl while she yelled, "_Fuuton, Okii Soyokaze no Jutsu_!" The whip glowed lightly with chakra as it began to generate a gust of wind that seemed to push off the poison gas, until Tenten again snapped her wrist. When she did that the whip cracked loudly and a powerful down draft of wind hit the area dissipating the poison completely.

The ninja watched as his poison disappeared with a gust of wind and was then shocked to see the girl snap the whip at him. He jumped from his position and had taunted her as he dropped to the ground, "You'll never touch me with that weapon!"

"Who ever said anything about using this weapon to attack you?" asked the girl as she gripped the chained whip tighter and pulled.

A snapping over his head distracted him as he saw a branch falling down on him while he cursed, "Damn!" He had barely dodged the branch as felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull and watched as the world blurred around him before everything went black.

Tentenwas seen dragging the ninja back with a grin as Sakura had finally finished healing Lee's internal damage. "What now?" she asked as he whip disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"We should act as support for out sensei's and keep an eye out for our client," Sakura said quietly, her mind was back to thinking clearly now that she had no one threatening to take her life.

"I agree," said Lee nodding his head vigorously while Tenten and Sakura stared at him strangely.

"Heh, heh," Naruto laughed feebly while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "Uh...I accidently gave him one of Tsunade's special pills," said the blonde trying to not get the two girls mad at him.

Sakura's eyes opened wide as she remembered Tsunade telling her about those pills, "Naruto! One of those pills is equal to five solider pills!"

"I said I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen! Besides he looked like he needed it, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined as he was stared down by his pink haired teammate.

Ignoring the argument, Tenten reminded the two of the plan, and they all took off looking to see if they could support their sensei's or help their client. They hear a sharp yell that sounded something like Kakashi's voice and all of them hoped that they would arrive on time.

If someone were to say that Matsuo Ryuuki was angry, they would be severely underestimating the situation, Ryuu was furious! Running through the forest he was currently looking for the baka who was shooting arrows at him every now and again. _'Grrr...when I find you..._' he growled in his head.

The enemy ninja was trying to catch up to the old man, and was finding it hard as the grey haired geezer seemed to be pulling away from him with every jump. Pulling out several small red balls that had exploding tags covering them the man activated them with his chakra and lobbed them in front of his prey.

Ryuu watched as several crimson balls exploded in front of him releasing their fiery contents down on his head. Changing his direction Ryuu evaded the fire and kept on following his senses while still tracking his other target. It seemed as if luck was on his side when he came upon a small opening in the forest only to see his prey running quickly towards the other side and cover. 'We can't have that,' Ryuu growled to himself while running through several seals and touching the ground whispering something to himself.

The masked ninja was sprinting across the open patch of forest as fast as he could, but was caught by surprise when a wall of dirt rose high into the air in front of him and then came crashing down. Trying to avoid being smothered by the earth wall, the ninja back flipped once twisting in the air and landed running back the way he had came. He was completely forgetting that he was running back into the enemies grasp and he only realized this when he saw a golden eyed ninja with a feral smile adorning his face.

"Die," growled the old man as his hand blurred through seals and a he punched his fist into the ground around him. Jagged spires of earth shot out of the ground and met where Ryuu's opponent was suppose to be. The bastard was lucky that his partner had enough sense pull him to safety. There they stood panting and wobbling a bit, as the ninja who had saved his partner gripped his leg where it had been pierced by one of the stone spires.

"You're not off the hook yet!" yelled the old man as he made a one handed seal and expended some chakra into the jutsu, "_Giza-giza Ishiame no Jutsu_!" The stone spires that stood to the side of Ryuu's opponent suddenly shattered, pelting the entire area with sharpened stony pieces.

Both men were covering themselves from the attack while Ryuu seemed to be unaffected by the painful stone rain. It was because of this momentary distraction that Ryuu was able to send the bow carrying ninja into a tree with a powerful kick while throwing his partner to the ground with a combination of locks and a throw.

The ninja with the bow quick reacted to seeing his partner trapped under their enemies foot and loosed an chakra filled arrow at the golden eyed man. The arrows path was true as it sped its way towards the head of it target, but it never got to its destination. Quick as lightning, Ryuu's had snapped out to pluck the arrow out of the air.

Both ninjas were certain of it now as their bodies reeked of the smell of fear. This golden eyed old man in front of them was going to kill them. Feeling desperation course through his veins the masked ninja on the ground quickly slid through his hand seals before screaming out, "_Sansei Iki no Jutsu_!"

Taking a deep breath the ninja exhaled a dark green mist that covered the man pinning him to the ground. Taken by surprise Ryuu loosened his grip on the enemy and jumped back from the gas, but not before the effects of the jutsu had begun to take effect. Ryuu watched as condensed drops of the mist started hissing and eating their way though this clothing. He felt his mask loosen and the skin around his face burn, it wasn't surprising as he had taken the brunt of the mist over his face. Thinking quickly he performed a Suiton jutsu and drenched himself in water washing away most of the acidic drops on his body.

The two ninja knew that they couldn't run from the man, instead they regrouped and on the far side of the forest opening waiting for their opportunity to show itself. However, as the green gas disappeared all they saw was the hunched over form of their enemy as he shook and clutched himself.

"Do it!" yelled the ninja to his bow carrying partner, as his friend nodden and brought out a red arrow with all sorts of seals carved into its shaft. Imbuing the arrow with as much chakra as he could force into it the man set the arrow and pulled back his bow. The other ninja began as long set of hand seals and when he was done they both yelled out in unison while the arrow was fired into the sky, "_Ichiman Hinote Shi no Jutsu_!" Both ninja watched the red arrow suddenly became a multitude of arrows, their were so many arrows that they almost blacked out the sky. However, their target had yet to move from his spot, in fact all that Ryuu had done was stand up as the light in the area waned.

When the first arrow landed it exploded into flames and covered the small area around it, both the enemy ninja were grinning as the other fell and created a hellish seen with fire and smoke covering everything with in an area. "No one can survive our 'Ten-thousand Fiery Deaths' technique. No one." the masked nin seemed to grin while his partner nodded but still gazed at the fire.

"Pathetic," called a voice from the flames that made both men's eyes snap open in fear. From the inferno in front of them came a animalistic growl that rumbled through the trees and sent animal scattering in every direction.

Kurenai listened closely when the screams of two men could be heard rolling through the forest. So far she had disable the blind ninja and was trying to stay alive as he new opponent proved to be more than she could handle.

This woman nin seemed to use a massive amount of wires that she could control, as a Puppet nin would control a puppet. She jumped from her hiding spot as several smooth wires pierced through the wood of the tree, in mid jump she spun avoiding a length of barbed wire. When she landed she followed the trails of the wire and evaded thicker wire as it lashed at her from every conceivable direction.

"It's no good," called a voice from the direction the wire was coming from, "you'll never make it to me. Besides, I've coated the area with my thinnest wire which can detect not only the vibrations that you make but the disturbances in the air as well!" That said, several barbed wire whips lashed out at Kurenai and struck her as she barely dodged being torn apart.

Kurenai grimaced as she had to agree with the female nin, her genjutsu wouldn't work on her because her wires kept her rooted in the real world, besides she need to see her target in order fore most of her more powerful genjutsu to work. Hearing a rustling behind her Kurenai quickly threw a kunai into the bush that rustle only to hear a scream and then a curse as an orange wearing blonde came out shaking his fist and screaming, "TAKING POTS SHOTS AT ME WILL YOU? COME OUT AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!"

Kurenai sighed as she saw the blond look up in confusion and stare at her before he said, "Do I know you?" Her eye twitching, Kurenai frown but deep down she was relieved that she had some back up. Until she remember who was standing in front of her, but then what surprised her even more was when he said, "Oh yeah! You're Kurenai-sensei, right?" Turning around the little blonde ninja called out into the forest, "It's okay it's Kurenai-sensei!" From the surrounding bushes the other gennin's appeared giving Kurenai a fleeting feeling of hope before several wires appeared out of no where to scatter the group.

"I see you've brought reinforcements," said the now amused voice, "no matter, I dispatch them all before I kill you." A swarm of wires seemed to shoot up out of the ground as every single gennin was pierced and torn apart by the ninjas steel wires. Kurenai watched in horror, only to be surprised as each of the gennins popped into smoke before her very eyes.

"Tenten! Now!" said a familiar voice, as a green blur passed Kurenai vision.

"_Soushouryu_!" cried out a voice as the forest was filled with swirling smoke, before two columns of smoke rose into the air with a familiar bunned kunoichi as she yelled, "Let's see how your wires hold up against my weapons!"

With a practiced speed that rivaled her teammates, Tenten began throwing all manner of weapons at the wires that covered the forest. She snipped the wires with precision and watched as her opponent reared herself out from the forest angry that her work was so easily destroyed by a gennin brat. She strode over the tree tops screaming, "You'll need much more than that to defeat me!" Several thick, pointed wires shot out from the woman's sleeves at the vulnerable Tenten as she was still in the air.

However, before the wires could reach the prone girl a green blur plucked his teammate from the path of the wires. Tenten grinned as she tugged on her weapons and watched as they came sailing out of the forest. "Sakura! Naruto! Now!" called Tenten as Sakura stopped concentrating and instead made a hand seal saying, "_Kai_!"

The female ninja watched as every single weapon exploded in smoke revealing an grinning orange wearing blonde ninja as they all said, "Eat this!" The enemy frantically worked to destroy the clones but found that she could only defeat a small amount of them before they latched on to her and with their extra weight brought her crashing through the forest canopy and into the ground.

Feeling her ribs snap, the female enemy decide that it was time to retreat. She stood up slowly and began to run through some hand seals until she sensed something behind he and turned to see nothing. However, while she turned back all she saw were red eyes staring at her, as her surroundings seemed to bleed like a ruined oil painting until there was nothing left but darkness closing in around her.

Naruto and the others walked to where Kurenai was standing over the unconscious nin. "What happened?" asked Tenten as she saw the woman on the ground shiver slightly and groan.

"I've trapped her within her own mind with a powerful genjutsu," said Kurenai as she sat down and let Sakura treat her more serious wounds.

"I hate those things," Kurenai heard Naruto say as he checked the enemy to make sure she was out for the count.

"Sensei? Shouldn't we look for Ryuu-sama or Kakashi-sensei?" asked Lee while the other looked towards their sensei for her decision.

"No need," Kurenai said after she had close her eyes only to open them and point behind the gennins. From the forest limped a weary looking Kakashi who seemed to be battered, bruised but not beaten. "Kakashi? What happened?"

"I killed one, but the other escaped," Kakashi grumbled as he remembered the woman using a explosive clone to cover her tracks. Looking about at everyone while covering up his sharingan, Kakashi saw that everyone was accounted for except for...

"Where is Ryuuki-sama?" asked Kakashi looking around and seeing blank expressions.

"Here..." called an approaching shadow.

Stepping into the light everyone saw that the old man's mask had been discarded and his clothes had the look of being singed, not to mention the smell of sulfur that hung in the air. However, that wasn't what every one was staring at with their mouth gaping open. No, what they were staring at were the three dark whisker marks that were prominently displayed on the old man's cheeks.

Just as Sakura was about to say something a loud voice yelled, "EH! HOW DID YOU STEAL MY MARKS!" Naruto was currently feeling his face as if checking if his marks were still there, while Ryuu had began to laugh long and hard and the others just looked on in shock.


	9. Chapter 9

The Lost Guardian

By Necroneox3d

Chapter 9

"Where is Ryuuki-sama?" asked Kakashi looking around and seeing blank expressions.

"Here..." called an approaching shadow.

Stepping into the light everyone saw that the old man's mask had been discarded and his clothes had the look of being singed, not to mention the smell of sulfur that hung in the air. However, that wasn't what every one was staring at with their mouth gaping open. No, what they were staring at were the three dark whisker marks that were prominently displayed on the old man's cheeks.

Just as Sakura was about to say something a loud voice yelled, "EH! HOW DID YOU STEAL MY MARKS!" Naruto was currently feeling his face as if checking if his marks were still there, while Ryuu had began to laugh long and hard and the others just looked

on in shock.

The group stares at the laughing Ryuuki, their minds blown by the marks on his cheek that are exact copies of Naruto's.

"R-Ryuuki-sama? How do you have Naruto's marks?" Tenten looks between Ryuuki and Naruto, her eyes echoing the confusion within. Naruto's face goes from shock to a guarded expression, the people around him see his eyes turn into almost pure steel, his happy and loud nature turning into a dangerous reserve of strength, anger, and confidence.

"Explain…" Naruto's voice is cold, the fact that no one, not even Kakashi, have EVER heard his voice sound like this stops them all in their tracks. Power emanates from Naruto, but not because of chakra. A white haze begins to surround Naruto, flowing like water around his body in small swirls within the larger swirl before with a pulse of power it solidifies and turns into a blazing inferno of power. Tenten stares at Naruto as the fire engulfs him, her eyes sparkling even as her face twists in horror. Thoughts of 'he's gorgeous' and 'he's an angel' streaming through her mind unbidden.

What kind of power does Naruto have? How can he be this strong? These thoughts run through Sakura's mind as she sees her friend show a never before displayed power unlike anything she's ever seen or even heard of.

Hmmmm, his power is tremendous and he has perfect control of it. "Very good Naruto, not many people these days have such access and control of their ki. Very good indeed." Ryuuki clenches his fists at his side before a power just like Naruto's erupts around him; however, his power feels like that of a sun compared to the raging inferno that is Naruto. Naruto's eyes flash red for a second before the white flames flash out and disappear. A frown forms on his face as he crosses his arms.

"Show off…" Naruto smirks at Ryuuki sensing that that was all of Ryuuki's power and not just a tip like his own. "I'm waiting for that explanation though…"

Ryuuki grins letting his own ki dissipate. "You'll get it, but not here, I don't sense anyone nearby but we've all seen just how good these people are at hiding themselves." Ryuuki stumbles slightly, his body too old to withstand the power output he'd shown a second ago. "We're getting close now, lets go!" With that he turns and leaps into the trees, his mind wondering just how much power Naruto had been holding back.

Kakashi's mind is blown at what he'd just witnessed. Once again Naruto has proven his title of Number One Most Surprising Ninja. Tree limbs flash by, little ones slapping him in the face as he runs on autopilot next to Naruto. "Naruto, what was that back there?" Naruto glances at his sensei, a grin forming on his face.

He looks forward again, his eyes watching the back of Ryuuki as they leaps through the trees. "It's called Ki. In school we ninja learn about chakra that we use in all three Ninja Arts; Gen, Nin, and Tai. In Gen the balance of Chakra is more mind than body, Nin is perfectly balanced, and in Tai we use more stamina than mind. However there is another energy in the body, our spirit energy which is kind of like chakra but it's chakra's exact opposite. With ki the stronger the body is the more ki you have, it's the source of stamina." Naruto looks over at Kakashi and smiles. "I accidentally found out about it when I was training my taijutsu and Rasengan. I was trying to form a one handed Rasengan instead of using my Kage Bunshin to help. However I tapped into my ki by mistake and created a ball of ki, I tried to throw it and it shot off and caused a major explosion. Ero-sennin said he'd heard of it before but never actually seen anyone access it, he told me to keep it secret and only use it in battle as a last resort." Grinning again he brings up his right hand and forms the ki ball for Kakashi to see. "It's more powerful than a Rasengan but this one can be thrown and takes up a lot less power than any technique I've ever used with chakra" He closes his fingers around the ball making it disperse.

Ryuuki looks back at Naruto over his shoulder and smiles. "There are a lot more techniques you can use with ki than with chakra, and a lot more powerful. You can even use it to fly if you gain strength and control enough to do it." Everyone stares at Ryuuki's back at that. To be able to fly without a summon, bloodline, or some sort of machine?! That was insane!!

Lee looks at Ryuuki, his face holding a serious expression only seen a couple of times by his team, "Ryuuki-sama, since its not chakra is it possible for me to learn this?" His mind is running a mile a minute as he thinks of all the possibilities this could open up for him.

Ryuuki looks back at the young Taijutsu user, a look of pity crossing his face as he thinks of the ninja handicap he has. "In all honesty yes, you can learn it. And since you're a taijutsu expert you should be extremely powerful with it as well since you heard Naruto's explanation on its physical dependency." Sakura looks at Lee, tears forming in her eyes when she sees the look of hope on his face. Good luck Lee-kun, she thinks as Inner Sakura says lots of naughty things. Kurenai however shifts the nin on her back into a more comfortable position.

"That's all well and good but why do I have to carry this bitch?" Kurenai's obvious discomfort and growing agitation obvious on her face before it turns to surprise when Lee flashes from her sight and reappears holding the nin bridal style.

"Sorry Kurenai-sensei!!!" Lee says as he somersaults through the air like he wasn't carrying a full grown woman in his arms.

Ryuuki grins at the youth before looking forward. "We're getting close to the village. We have to stop here and let a vanguard come pick us up." He drops to the ground and leans up against a tree while the other follow his example. "And no Naruto, we can't talk about it here. I don't trust any other place for our 'conversation' except my own house. Just be patient." Naruto hmphs before sitting down Indian style and starts to sharpen a kunai. Tenten lands next to him and follows his example, her mind still racing with the image of such power from the blonde. "And Naruto, drop your transformation and the genjutsu, you're still outputting too much power. The enemy have learned to sense it rather well since almost the entire village uses Ki." Naruto groans as everyone looks at him in surprise, even Kakashi and Kurenai are surprised that he had a genjutsu up and they didn't feel it.

"Ah man, do I have to? Oyaji told me not to undo the Genjutsu unless I was on an infiltration mission or something like it." Ryuuki glares at him for a second making Naruto sweat drop and shake his hands in front of him. "Ok ok ok, I'll do it jeez!!" He places his hands in the tiger seal "Kai!!" His clothes and body instantly change. His muscles are now bulged and cut, his jacket is replaced with a black leather vest and no shirt leaving his muscular torso to be seen by all through the unzipped vest, the Kyuubi's seal present for all to see. His pants are replaced with black anbu styled ones taped like Kakashi's at the bottom. Bracers cover the end of his arms and several scrolls line two belts crisscrossing each other on his waist hanging down his legs on the opposite side. Other than that he looks the same lol.

"Now stop the transformation. Personally I can't see how you sustain it all the time like that, it'd drain me tremendously to be transformed all the time." Naruto laughs as he scratches his head in embarrassment before his hair, eyes and body change again. His muscles shrink slightly but his hair changes into a brilliant red and his eyes change from blue to gold like Ryuuki's.

Sakura walks closer to Naruto, her eyes wide. "N-Naruto? What was that, if that was a transformation….. What's going on here?!" Her eyes are wide and confusion lashes through her emotions like crazy.

"We call it the Guardian form." Everyone turns to Ryuuki as he speaks, confusion on everyone's faces. "When we reach a certain level of power we can change into what you thought was Naruto's real form. Our hair turns golden yellow and our eyes change to blue. It all started when a race of people called Saijins came to this land before the Shinobi's ever truly got started. Their entire race were Ki users and in an intense period of emotion they would transform into the Guardian form, or a Super Saijin as they called it. Eventually they merged themselves with the Shinobi of my village and became Hybrids. I'll tell you the rest later…" Naruto's eyes narrow dangerously and a small flash of Killing Intent flares before being suppressed almost immediately. Kakashi frowns, he had felt Kyuubi's own killing intent mixed with Naruto's.

Naruto returns to sharpening his kunai and everyone sits and waits as the information slowly filters into their minds.

This is going to be one hell of a mission they all thought….

Well guys I rewrote this cause I was bored and started reading the first eight chpts again and realized my chapters are WAAAAY off course to be an actual part of this story lol. I hope you like this better cause I do, it flows intot he first 8 a lot better than the other chapter I had written, and I like it better lol. Review and tell me what ya think, ciao!!!

JOHN


	10. Chapter 10

Lost Guardians

Chpt 10

"We call it the Guardian form." Everyone turns to Ryuuki as he speaks, confusion on everyone's faces. "When we reach a certain level of power we can change into what you thought was Naruto's real form. Our hair turns golden yellow and our eyes change to blue. It all started when a race of people called Saijins came to this land before the Shinobi's ever truly got started. Their entire race were Ki users and in an intense period of emotion they would transform into the Guardian form, or a Super Saijin as they called it. Eventually they merged themselves with the Shinobi of my village and became Hybrids. I'll tell you the rest later…" Naruto's eyes narrow dangerously and a small flash of Killing Intent flares before being suppressed almost immediately. Kakashi frowns; he had felt Kyuubi's own killing intent mixed with Naruto's.

Naruto returns to sharpening his kunai and everyone sits and waits as the information slowly filters into their minds.

This is going to be one hell of a mission they all thought….

Naruto looks up as an unfamiliar ki signature approaches. "Lee, someone's coming." Lee looks up at him as he finishes some one handed vertical push ups before flipping to his feet

Ryuuki looks to Naruto as Lee and Tenten step to his side, his pride in Naruto kicked up a few notches at the natural leadership on display. "It's alright Naruto. It's the Vanguard I was telling everyone about." A girl drops from the trees facing Ryuuki, a smile plastered on her face.

She walks closer before jumping at him with arms wide open. "Grandpa!!!"

Ryuuki grins as he catches the girl and spins. "Sheri! How's my baby girl?"

She grins and moves away from him looking up into his golden eyes with own golden ones. "I'm okay granddad, but my trainings slow without you here to spar with!" She spins and looks at the group. "Hi! Names Matsuo Sheri, please follow m…" Her eyes widen as they fall on Lee. "OH MY GOD!!!" She fazes from sight only to reappear in front of the spandex wearing youth. "Hey there cutie pie, what's your name?" She drapes her arms seductively around his shoulders as he looks at her confused. He starts to answer as sweat drops appear on everyone's heads when Ryuuki clears his throat angrily snapping Sheri out of her lustful daze. "Heheh, sorry. Everyone please follow me!!" She leaps to the trees quickly followed by everyone else, their pace a little faster than the whole time coming here.

Sakura breathes hard as she tries to keep up, her perfect chakra control the only reason she hasn't fallen behind since the very beginning. Inner Sakura looks around the forest looking for danger and screams in fear as she quickly grabs control of Sakura's body and flips her to the ground, a huge sword slashing through where she had just been.

"KIMMIMARU!!!! These are our quests you asshole!!!" Ryuuki glares at some bushes as the Konoha Shinobi all form a protective barrier around the panting and exhausted Sakura as she tries to stand and fails. Naruto's anger begins to raise again, the hand seals for his new fire technique flashing through his mind and his hands twitch to form them. Then everything seems to slow down to Naruto as a boy about his age steps forward, his hair brilliant red, whisker marks glaring from his cheeks, his gold eyes flashing anger and disobedience.

Kimmimaru looks at the group, his eyes widening for a second when he see Naruto, but other than that he doesn't seem impressed. "Elder Ryuuki, I was merely trying to rid you of the weakling, why you chose her for this mission I do not know but we do not need ones such as her." A powerful killing intent fills the air; chakra explodes form the pink haired kunoichi as she stands up, her eyes blazing red.

Sakura steps forward once and disappears before a super chakra enhanced fist smashes into Kimmimaru's head throwing him into and through the ground forming a massive crater and breaking the ground up like chalk smashed against the ground. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING WEAK YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!!" Kimmimaru pulls himself from the ground grinning, a small bruise forming on his cheek.

He laughs as he pulls himself out of the crater and throws his sword to the side. "Nice tap, but it's still not enough _Bitch._" He starts to laugh when two fists hit his face, one courtesy of Naruto, Sakura the other. Kimmimaru flies threw a few trees and falls to the ground unconscious.

Ryuuki looks at the fight neutrally before he starts to chuckle along with the rolling in laughter Sheri. "Very good job Sakura, that boy tries to pick fights with everyone in an attempt to get stronger, but he just keeps getting his ass handed to him." Ryuuki kicks the laughing Sheri in the side lifting her off the ground where he grabs her by the back of the shirt as she continues to laugh; she never even felt the kick. "It's time to go Sheri, come on." She stops laughing and nods and once again takes to the trees soon followed by everyone, and exhausted and unconscious Sakura riding piggy back on Naruto.

Naruto looked around at the crowd of people before him, behind them the Village Hidden in the Forest. He misses the details since the group before him is armed to the teeth and seems edgy but he can see that the walls are huge, almost twice as big as Konoha's walls.

"Matsuo Ryuuki! Why have you brought all these Shinobi, you were supposed to retrieve him and him alone!!" An Elder steps forward, an enormous pike held securely within his grip.

Ryuuki looks at the man with disgust, his anger spiking before he calms himself. "There were complications Elder Tengu, however I did enlist the aid of these Shinobi, however this is not the place to be discussing this. We must speak to the council immediately…"

Naruto looks at Ryuuki, suspicion growing in his mind as he wonders what this village wanted with him. It was obvious that someone in his deceased family came from here since his feature looked like most of those before them but why him specifically?

Ryuuki glances at Naruto, he sees the gears turning in his mind and he grins. He's just like his mother. "Hey Naruto, best be prepared, I want you to speak to the council on behalf of Konoha." Kakashi stares in surprise at Ryuuki before he frowns.

What is he up to? If he tries to take Naruto from me I WILL stop him…

Naruto looks around the council hall, his mind rushing through what he would probably be asked and what he should say, his lessons in being captured by the enemy coming to the forefront of his mind. 'Only give enough information to win your freedom, information is life and death in the life of a Shinobi, protect all information with your life.' The council members look down at Naruto; some with a look of awe, others with disgust, and a few with an emotion Naruto can't decipher. He wishes Kakashi or any of the other Konoha Shinobi were allowed to be there, but since he was chosen as the ambassador he had to go it alone.

The Elder Tengu sits in the middle of the council members, his golden eyes blazing down at Naruto. "Uzumaki Naruto…" His name is spit with disgust from the Elders lips. "Do you know the reason you stand here before us today?"

Naruto shakes his head affirmative. "I'm here today to represent my fellow Shinobi of Konoha." Some of the Elders chuckle before a clearing of the throat from Tengu shuts them up.

"Wrong, that was just an excuse to allow you to stand before us without any interference from your so called 'fellow Shinobi'. You stand before us today to account for the crimes of your mother and father!" Naruto growls, his eyes flashing blue, then red before settling down into their regular gold.

"Pffft, stupid councils always doing this shit to me. Well you old fucker, why don't you tell me these crimes and who I'm supposed to be standing here for!"

The Elder growls, his own eyes flashing blue with anger. "Your mother Matsuo Toshi broke our laws and left our village with your father Uzumaki Arashi, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha!! They invoked the wrath of our Lord Kyuubi and made him declare war on the outlying Shinobi villages where your father destroyed him. For destroying our lord and stealing one of our own, and the desertion of your mother you are hereby sentenced to death!!!"

Ryuuki walks through the doors smiling. "Sorry I'm late, I had to reassure Kakashi-san that we…" He stares in disbelief at the council before him, several had extremely angry looks on their faces and others looked pleased, and because of the ones for each he knew something bad had just happened. "What's going on here…." He looks at Naruto and gasps as his eyes flash through three colors at such a rapid pace he knew that he was beyond angry, Naruto was furious.

"I w**ill **not **be **kill**ed f**or such a **RIDICULOUS REASON!!!!!"** His eyes turn blood red, red chakra bubbling up from his skin, his hair flashes gold, his nails elongate and the seal on his stomach blazes a fierce red. "**It's been many years since I made this council, and ever since I've regretted it. Tengu Matsuya, I sentence you to death for trying to destroy your king and your god…"** Fear laces through the air as Kyuubi's voice and killing intent leak from Naruto before Naruto vanishes from sight and reappears with his arm through Matsuya's chest. The chakra drops and Naruto's eyes turn blue. "W-what just happened!!"

Ryuuki rushes to Naruto's side, his eyes blue and his hair gold, ki blazing around his body like an inferno of pure power. "Lord Kyuubi killed this corrupt man and disbanded the council. GUARDS!!!" Shinobi appear and instantly blaze with ki of different colors. "Arrest everyone but the Matsuo and Kenji families, they attempted to kill Naruto for their own greedy purposes." The guards nod and immediately knock out everyone needed. "Come on Naruto, it seems this needs to be explained now…"

Kakashi glares at Ryuuki as they step through the door of Ryuuki's compound/house and sees the blood coating Naruto's entire right arm. "What the fuck happened Ryuuki?! I thought it was just a simple meeting to represent us here?!"

Ryuuki sighs and guides Naruto to a chair. "Get everyone here now, this is information you will all need to know." Kakashi whistles and they hear everyone start to come to the front room. Once everyone was there Tenten and Sakura rushed over to Naruto to check him for injuries, fussing over him like mother hens. "Settle down everyone, he's not hurt." Ryuuki walks over to a recliner and sits down, his age more apparent on his face than ever before. "The council felt it their duty to charge Naruto with the crimes of his parents. The Elder was corrupt and has been punished for his treachery as well as any other corrupt council member, and the council has been disbanded. Naruto has just found out who his parents were and is pretty much in shock." He looks over to Kakashi. "Naruto's parents were my daughter Matsuo Toshi and Uzumaki Arashi, Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure." Gasps from everyone make Ryuuki smile. "Naruto was supposed to return here, his mother wished it so, but both his parents were obviously killed in the Kyuubi attack and when I came to retrieve him I made a deal with Sarutobi. Naruto would be raised in Konoha as a hero, but evidently things didn't go well. I made this deal since there were and still are those in this village who want him to account for Toshi's desertion and for the Kyuubi." Ryuuki looks around the room at everyone and grimaces. "Kyuubi wasn't a demon lord like you all thought; he was the Guardian of Fire Country and our liege lord. When Toshi ran away it angered Lord Kyuubi since she was being trained by him directly and she deserted not only us but him as well. He became angered, and for a Guardian of Fire anger to him is like a bloodthirsty maniac to us. He followed her and your father and attacked Konoha." Ryuuki sighs since he knows he is about to tell Naruto's friends the truth, but there is no other way. "Arashi knew it was his fault for the attack, and tried to reason with Lord Kyuubi, but in his angered state there was no reasoning. So Arashi did the only thing he could, using the Shinigami he pulled Kyuubi's soul from his body and sealed it within Naruto." Naruto looks up at Ryuuki so fast he was afraid Naruto would snap his own neck, hurt and betrayal flash across his features with fear and several other emotions.

However Tenten and Sakura wrap their arms around his shoulders and start to cry and hope begins to show on Naruto's face. Lee puts one hand on Naruto's back and smiles. "You must have had it rough my friend, but we're here for you now, no worries k?" A tear wells up in Naruto's eye as he rests his head on the girls and wraps his arms around the two as they continue to cry for their friend.

Ryuuki smiles at Naruto and then frowns before continuing. "When the Council tried to sentence Naruto to death, Kyuubi came forward and gave his proclamation before carrying out the death sentence on Tengu. Now Naruto, there is something you need to know." Naruto looks up at him, confusion and a hint of fear showing in his eyes. "Your mother was the heir to the clan, and by rights you are now that heir. That is not all though, you are the new Guardian of Fire Country. Lord Kyuubi lies within you; you have our bloodline and an extraordinarily large amount and control of ki. All of this corresponds with a prophecy we've had for many generations, back to when the Saijins first started to merge with our village. A great evil is coming Naruto, one which none of the people in this village can stop. We are the Guardians, we protect the world from real demons, but this evil is like you, a Jinchuriki with an entire unknown village on his side. His first target is this village then he will move on to all of the others, including Konoha, and will destroy any and all within his path. Will you join us to destroy this evil?"

Naruto stares at Ryuuki, his mind running a mile a minute with all this new information. "I have to think, this is all too much to take in at once." Naruto stands up to leave, his mind clouded and guarded. "Kakashi-sensei, will you please come with me."

Kakashi looks at his subordinate, the feelings and thoughts rushing through Naruto's eyes tell him everything he needs to know. "Of course…" He places his hand on Naruto's shoulder and with a burst of smoke they disappear. Ryuuki sighs, Naruto's trust and belief in these Konoha Shinobi upsetting him slightly but he knows it cannot be helped.

Be careful grandson, I do not want to see you go through anymore pain in that village, but if it is your choice to return to it I will not stop you…

Hey peeps, tell me what ya think, personally I like how it's goin now but hey, it's not about me it's about you the readers so review and tell me what you all wanna see happenin, I got some ideas of where to go but I like to know what ya'll want. Holla!!

JOHN


	11. Chapter 11

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 11: Lee

Naruto stares at Ryuuki, his mind running a mile a minute with all this new information. "I have to think, this is all too much to take in at once." Naruto stands up to leave, his mind clouded and guarded. "Kakashi-sensei, will you please come with me."

Kakashi looks at his subordinate, the feelings and thoughts rushing through Naruto's eyes tell him everything he needs to know. "Of course…" He places his hand on Naruto's shoulder and with a burst of smoke they disappear. Ryuuki sighs, Naruto's trust and belief in these Konoha Shinobi upsetting him slightly but he knows it cannot be helped.

Be careful grandson, I do not want to see you go through anymore pain in that village, but if it is your choice to return to it I will not stop you…

Lee looks at the sky from a training ground he found in the back of the Matsuo compound. Walls line the little compound, a hug three story house at the front with forest in the back with multiple training grounds and a pond. He sighs as he thinks of all the changes people were making around him, and the monstrous amount of information he'd learned tonight about his new friend Naruto.

"Hey watsup cutie pie?" Lee snaps around his body sinking into the Goken stance instinctually till he sees its just Sheri.

Lee stands up and grins, scratching his head the way Naruto does. "Nothin much, just thinking bout things. What about you, what're you doin here?"

Sheri grins before sinking down into a stance, her left hand stretched forward with her fingers open and outstretched, her right hand in front of her chest with a balled fist. Her right leg bent under her and he left leg stretched forward with the toe pointed forward. "I came looking for a good sparring partner, I think you might be just good enough for a little challenge."

Lee grins before putting his right arms behind his back and his left hand stretched out palm up in his usual fighting stance. "Challenge accepted!" Sheri blurs from sight her fist rocketing towards Lee's face. She thinks he doesn't see it until he grabs her fist and kicks her in the chin sending her skyward before setting back into his stance again without the follow up attack. "Fast, but not fast enough Sheri-san…" He grins as she picks herself up off the ground, her eyes flashing defiantely.

She gets up into the same stance and launches forward, her leg sweeping towards his feet where he kicks her foot sending her spinning in the other direction where she leaps up and tries an uppercut. Lee blocks it with his open palm before throwing his other fist into her stomach knocking the wind from her lungs. "Ooof, damn you're good. Goken right?" Lee grins with her recognition of his style. "Alright lets kick this fight up a notch!!" Ki blasts around her body before settling again and she blasts off faster than before and throws two unseen punches to his face before kicking him in the side hurling him backwards.

"Ouch, lets do this!!" Lee jumps up grinning and blurs from sight. Shock waves rock the area as their fists and kicks connect with each other, craters forming around on the ground from their landings and attacks. With a kick to Sheri's chin he sends her skyward and reappears under her, his bandages wrapping her up before they reach the pinnacle of their flight and start to fall back to the ground. "Omote RENGE!!!" Lee screams as they start spinning at an insane speed towards the ground, releasing her at the last instant to slam into the ground causing a massive crater. "Sheri!!" Lee screams, afraid he took it too far. A ki blast rockets from the crater impacting with Lee's quickly placed guard throwing him back with the explosion.

"Oh my god LEE!!" Sheri screams thinking he would have dodged but had blocked instead. Images of his bloody corpse float through her mind when a kick to her head sends her flying through the air with a whistling sound.

"That was great Sheri-san!!" Lee stands there with the top half of his spandex burnt and gone, a few scorch marks on his powerful frame. Muscles flex with the littlest of motions and a few scars can be seen here and there from the intense trainings he performs. Sheri stares at his body as he launches towards her, her mind sending very naughty images too her before a punch in the gut sends her skyward. She coughs up a little blood and grins, her blood starting to boil in excitement from the match. Ki flares up around her and she stops in midair floating there in her fighting stance before she forms ki blasts in both hands and starts rocketing them at Lee who dodges some and simply knocks the other to the side with his bare hands. "First Gate OPEN!!!" A massive explosion of chakra explodes from Lee as he launches at Sheri with pure chakra enhanced strength. He reappears behind Sheri and axe hammers her to the ground. He lands on the ground and grins as Sheri pulls herself from the ground, a little blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.

She smiles at Lee and powers down, her body sagging a little as her strength leaves her. "Great spar Lee-kun, how bout we go get you some new clothes, that looks like its had it!" Lee grins as he looks down at his suit, the spandex that's left has rips and tears in it so bad he knows its now fixable.

"Sure, besides if Gai-sensei changed his look I guess I should too!!! YOUTH POWER!!!" He screams as he pumps his fist in the air. Sheri smiles at him wrapping her arm through his.

"YOUTH!!!" She screams with him as they march towards the compound gates towards town laughing.

Sheri looks around the store at the various items for sale, the gears in her mind grinding away try to figure out a new look for Lee. "Hey Lee, got any idea what you want? We don't have any green spandex…"

Lee looks around the shop, his mind working just as hard as Sheri's at trying to figure out his new look. Suddenly he spots it, there at the end of the store, the only one of its kind and its perfect. He rushes over and grabs the item and turns to the approaching Sheri. She look at the thing in his arms and smiles. Lee is holding a sleeveless Karate Gi the same color green as his spandex but this is nice and loose. "This, most definitely this…" The awe in Lee's voice makes Sheri giggle and nod. They look around the store for anything else to go with it and upon finding a few things they go to the checkout and counter, pay, then Lee hits the dressing rooms. As he steps out Sheri's mind grinds to a halt once again as she stares at his new look in complete shock. Lee stands there in his new gi with a karate black belt wrapped around his waist. On his forearms are matt black bracers with hidden kunai holsters on the underside. On top of the gi's top is a black leather vest Shinobi style with sections to hold scrolls. His kunai holster is strapped to his right leg and on his feet are black biker boots with steel covering the toe in the same matt black as his bracers. Covering the bottom of his face is a metal mask styled like Kakashi's. "So whattaya think?"

Sheri stares at Lee, his muscles on his arms tight, bulging, and cut unlike anyone else she's ever seen in her life. "You… Look… ABSOLUTLY AMAZING!!!" She rushes over and glomps Lee as he chuckles and catches her, her weight shifting and causing her to be held bridal style with only one of Lee's arms. He laughs as she rubs her cheek against his bare neck as he walks out of the store and heads back to the compound, thoughts of happiness filling his mind, body, and soul.

Hey peeps!! Just a little note, this and the next few chapters are happening at the same time from different view points kk? As usual read and review, let me know what you think!! Ciao!!!

JOHN


	12. Chapter 12

The Lost Guardians

Chapter 12: Tenten and Kurenai

Tenten looks around the armory in the compound without the normal enthusiasm she would usually exhibit. Her mind is rolling with all the new information she'd learned only moments ago. She picks up a three pronged kunai, recognizing it from somewhere but unable to put her finger on it as to exactly where.

"Wanna talk about it?" Tenten whirls around only to find Kurenai leaning against the doorframe smirking at her. "Well do you wanna talk or throw that at me, either way I'm still gonna be here." Tenten gasps as she realizes she'd been holding the kunai in a defensive attack position.

She leaps back and places the kunai back on the rack flustered and ashamed at being caught off guard like that. "S-sorry Kurenai-sensei, I didn't hear you come in."

Kurenai laughs at the flustered girl. "Well I should hope you didn't, I am a Jounin after all, it'd be shameful for a genin to hear me so easily." Tenten laughs as well and settles down a little. "So what's goin through your mind Tenten? Is it Naruto?"

Tenten look up at Kurenai and sighs. "Yes, he's been through so much I know. Yet he always acted goofy and put on a happy smile so I never really saw it. But the fear he had in his eyes when Ryuuki-sama told us about the Kyuubi, it cut me to the core to see that kind of fear in someone so kind and generous."

Kurenai looks at Tenten and smirks. "Doesn't help that he's so powerful and cute to boot huh?" Tenten blushes and looks at the ground embarrassed as Kurenai chuckles at her. "Don't be embarrassed, hell I'm several years older than him and even I want a piece of the 'Naruto Pie' ha haa!!" Tenten gapes at her before grinning and shaking her head. "Well, I'll leave you alone, I think you have a lot to think about, ciao!!" Kurenai leaves giving Tenten a wink and a pat on the back.

Tenten stares at the door long after Kurenai left before turning back to the long rows of weapons in the room. "Hmmmm, I wonder what Naruto-kun would say if I asked him out?"

Kurenai looks back towards the Armory door as she walks down the hallway. "Poor thing, looks like I need to talk to Ryuuki, cause there's something wrong with me and Tenten. I can understand her being attracted to Naruto, but why me all of a sudden?" She shakes her head starts looking for Ryuuki, wondering the whole way why neither she nor Tenten felt jealous that they both were interested in Naruto.

"You feel it don't you?" Kurenai spins around, pulling a kunai and readying a jutsu in mere moments, until she sees its just a smirking Ryuuki copying her move from earlier and leaning against the wall. "Do you know why I didn't deny your inclusion in this mission when Tsunade recommended you?"

Kurenai looks at him confused as she puts her kunai back in its holster. "Yes, I have been wondering that actually. Considering you and Tsunade-sama seem to have issues it did make me slightly curious."

Ryuuki smiles a true and very warm smile before motioning for her to follow him. "The Matsuo family has a bloodline, the only family to have this bloodline considering it's directly from the Saijins." Ryuuki sits down in the chair in the front room he'd been in earlier and waits fro Kurenai to seat herself across from him on the couch. "The Saijins were more animal than the regular person, most even having a tail, which Naruto has by the way but he hides it in the top of his pants. Because of this close relation to animals the ones in this family who are born with a tail have a natural attraction to the ones meant to be theirs as mates. I didn't deny your inclusion in this mission because I sensed that you and that Tenten girl are Naruto's natural mates. Before it was hidden by the Genjutsu but now that he's dropped it you two are feeling the effects finally."

Kurenai's mouth is hanging open at this revelation as her mind tries to absorb the Intel. "So let me get this straight, Tenten and I are basically his soulmates?" Ryuuki smiles and nods at her. "And that's why neither of us feels jealous of the other because subconsciously we know it's true…" Ryuuki's eyes widen at her figuring that out so fast. "Well, I'm guessing there's nothing we can do about it is there?" Ryuuki shakes his head negative. "Oh well, not like I really want to do anything about it. He's a hell of a catch, but why me? I'm so much older than him." Ryuuki smiles at her and chuckles.

"Well, with some of us we only have one 'soulmate', others like Naruto have two or more, usually one is an older woman in order to bring balance and understanding into the 'harem' or else all the younger women would tear each other to pieces in jealousy. You are the balance of the females. I don't know if it will just be you and Tenten or more but you're the head wife." Kurenai nods in understanding and smiles.

"This should be very interesting, thanks for the explanation Ryuuki-sama." Ryuuki nods and watches as Kurenai leaves before smiling to himself.

Naruto is by far the most powerful member to ever grace the Matsuo family, so naturally his harem is going to be a LOT bigger than just Kurenai and Tenten, he just doesn't know how big. Ryuuki laughs to himself before he looks out the window and frowns seeing a new version of Rock Lee carrying Sheri towards the compound. This is going to be a long night….

Hey folks, hope you like where this is going, and I've never really done a Naruto/Harem thing before so I thought I'd try it out with this story, tell me what you think. Peace!!!

JOHN


	13. Chapter 13

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 13: Sakura

A log shatters as a chakra enhanced punch slams into its side. A certain pink haired kunoichi is pissed. "Fucking traitors!!" Another punch demolishes the already demolished log even further, the splinters now dust. "I can't believe they lied to me like that!!!!" She slams her fist into the ground, her perfect chakra control creating a massive crater in the ground, her anger so intense even the earth trembles in fear. Tears fall from her eyes as she thinks of all the times she'd hurt Naruto, treated him like trash and shoved him away, even after they became friends. Images of all the adults through her life who had deceived her and told her Naruto was a 'bad influence' and to 'stay away from that monster'. She falls to her knees in tears, her anger forgotten and sorrow replaces it, sorrow and guilt.

"It's never easy is it?" Sakura looks up to see a sad looking Kimmimaru looking at her, his sword leaning against a tree. He walks over to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "I know what you're going through. I had a friend once who was treated the way Naruto was, for the same reason. She was the container of the Nibi." His eyes close against the pain he feels as he remembers his dead friend. "We started writing each other as a pen pal assignment during school. She told me how her life was going, how she got singled out as a monster, how the parents told their children to treat her and ignore her." He looks into Sakura's eyes seeing the same pain, anger, and sorrow he'd felt when his friend was murdered.

Sakura looks at him, taking his hand in her own and sighing. "Does it get any easier? Will the pain go away? How do I apologize to one of my best friends for all the pain I've put him through?"

Kimmimaru looks at her and sits next to her, his hand still in hers. "Be there for him now. Help him in his times of need. He'll appreciate that a lot more than any 'I'm sorry' Gift baskets." She chuckles and he grins at her. "I know you know my name and all but, hey! Names Kimmimaru, but you can call my Kye, my friends all do."

Sakura looks at him and smiles, her tears stopping their steady flow. "I'm Sakura. It's nice to meet you Kye." Kye wraps an arm around her shoulder and pulls her on his shoulder as she smiles and lets her tears finish up.

"It's a pleasure to meet ya Sakura…"


	14. Chapter 14

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 14: Naruto and Kakashi

Kakashi looks at Naruto as they sit on the roof, his affection for Naruto evident in his visible eye.

"Kakashi-sensei, what should I do?" Naruto looks up at the sky as the sun starts to set in the west. Birds fly across the sky heading south, the coolness in the air evidence of a coming winter. "This is village is where I truly came from. I'm the Guardian of Fire Country, the son of the Fourth, and so many things I just can't wrap my mind around." Naruto looks over at Kakashi, the confusion obvious on his whiskered cheeks. "What should I do?"

Kakashi folds his hands together and rest his chin on them, his mind struggling for an answer to this situation. "Well, I can't really tell you what to do Naruto. Like you said this village is where your mother came from, but your father was a Hokage of Konoha. Heh I'll tell you something really funny though." He looks over at his student, pride in his eyes. "Your father was my sensei, now I'm your sensei. Pretty funny huh?" Naruto smiles at the irony of it. "All I can say is here you do have a new family, but in Konoha you also have family, people who truly do care for you for who _you_ are. You've already made so many people recognize you for who you are. And you unknowingly are trying to follow in your father's footsteps. What I do know though is this." Kakashi puts a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder, his eye showing nothing but sincerity to his words. "No matter what you decide, you will always be welcomed in Konoha by those who love and care for you and if you do decide to stay here and become a Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Forest, if you ever need help we're there for you…" He eye smiles down at an appreciative Naruto before standing up and starting to walk away. "Give it time before you make a hasty decision. This decision will be a life altering one, and one not to be made lightly…" He waves before poofing away with a small cloud of smoke. Naruto sighs when he sees something that scares the hell out of him. Walking down the street and coming into the compound is Lee and Sheri, except Lee isn't wearing spandex and he's carrying Sheri as she cuddles into his neck.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!!"

Tenten looks up from a very well crafted Samurai Katana at the yell that is obviously Naruto's voice and she takes off running, the Katana held firmly in her hand. "I'm coming Naruto-kun!!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!!"

Kurenai's head snaps up as she poofs out of the library heading towards the roof. _Please be okay Naruto._

Kye looks up towards the compound, his arm still around a dozing Sakura. "What was that?"

Sakura looks up with sleepy eyes and yawns slightly. "Oh that was just Naruto being surprised by something, probably something real stupid or extremely different." Sakura looks around before snuggling back onto Kye's shoulder. "I'm guessing its something to do with Lee.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!"

"And that would be Tenten being shocked at the same thing, so definitely Lee…" Kye looks down at Sakura as she tries to find a more comfortable spot on his shoulder, amusement at her thoughts on the situation evident clearly in his eyes. Eh, she knows her team better than me so whatever.

Lee scratches his head at the slack jawed Naruto and Tenten and the amused looks of Kurenai and Kakashi.

"Heheh, hey guys, what's up?"

Naruto face faults with Tenten before leaping back up and pointing accusingly at Lee. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WATSUP'?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU AND WHY ARE YOU CARRYING SHERI LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!"

Lee grins before setting Sheri down, much to her disappointment, and grins at his friends. "Well me and Sheri had a small spar earlier and it tore most of my clothes to shreds, so she offered to help me pick out some new clothes." He smiles and blushes. "As for me carrying her, I can't help she's cute…" Sheri blushes before glomping Lee while Tenten passes out with foam bubbling out of her mouth.

Naruto grins and slaps Lee on the shoulder. "Way to go!! I knew you had it in ya bro!!"

Hey guys and gals!! I know these last few have been real short but that's about to end lol!! Neways, as always, read and review and tell me what ya wanna see!! Peace, sayonara, ciao!!

JOHN


	15. Chapter 15

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 14

The next morning Naruto wakes up as the sun shines through the bedroom window. He rubs his eyes and yawns, wondering why he felt different today. For some strange reason he couldn't sit up, something was lying across his chest weighing him down. With blurry eyes and mind he looks to the left only to find the sleeping face of Tenten with her head cuddled on his shoulder, a slight smile and snore issuing from her mouth. His mind just stops in panic and confusion. Why is Tenten in bed with me? At least we still have our clothes on, I don't want to be accused as a damned pervert!!! Then it hits him…

Flashback-The night before 

Naruto grins and slaps Lee on the shoulder. "Way to go!! I knew you had it in ya bro!!" Naruto continues slapping Lee on the shoulder as he laughs at the look his friend has, his blush increasing as Naruto continues slapping him.

Kurenai clears her throat deeply to get Naruto's attention, though a slight smile on her face shows he's not in trouble so he relaxes. "Naruto, can you take Tenten to her room? I don't think she'll be wakin up anytime soon."

Naruto's eyes get big, panic written all over his face. "But what if she wakes up and thinks something wrong about me?! I don't want her to think I'm a pervert!!!" Kurenai laughs then, her sides starting to hurt as Naruto gives her an innocently curious look with the panic fading away from his eyes.

"It's alright Naruto-san, Tenten is used to being carried by men. She is the only girl on our team and she's has gotten injured or passed out quite a few times in the past." Lee gives his nice guy pose, though Naruto still seems unconvinced.

Kurenai comes over and places a hand on his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers and a blush adorns her face for a second as she stares into his golden eyes. "Trust me Naruto, she won't have any problems with you carrying her."

Naruto grins, his mind at ease as he walks over and lifts the girl bridal style, nobody seeing the blush on Kurenai's face or hearing the thoughts of wishing Naruto would carry her like that. He sets off towards the house as the others follow. They stop in the front living room as he takes Tenten towards her room. When he slides the door open with one leg he freezes as she readjusts herself in his grip and wraps her arms around his neck, a slight and cute snore issuing forth from her mouth. Walking over to a bed, not knowing which one and there were two, he tries to lay her down. Her arms are locked around his neck and won't let go. He tries prying her fingers off but she stirs in her sleep and he doesn't want to wake her so he lies down only for her to cuddle even closer to him, one of her legs wrapping itself around his and her knee near his crotch. Instead of feeling a sense of arousal the only thoughts running through his mind is 'OH shit oh shit oh shit!! She's gonna knee me in the crotch while she sleeps!!!!!' His thoughts run along this line as he lays there frozen till sleep slowly claims him.

End 

Naruto looks at the sleeping Tenten, a smile of amusement and something he doesn't recognize gracing his face as he stares into her sleeping visage. She is quite beautiful he admits to himself.

"Naruto…" Naruto freezes in panic again, his mind racing for any excuse to give Kurenai for that's who's voice he'd heard. Slowly he turns his head to the other bed only for blood to start leaking from his nose as Kurenai sits on the edge of the bed leaning back with her arms behind her to hold her up, and completely naked. Her crotch area is completely bare and visible to Naruto with her legs open so wide, her breasts jiggling as she giggles at his reaction. "Like what you see? I might let you…." She trails off with a lusty grin before closing her legs and getting up from the bed, turns around, and bends over putting her hands on the edge of the bed, her ass now viewable to Naruto before she dips slowly to the ground then thrusting her ass out and standing up again. "Later!" She walks away grabbing a bag of clothes as she heads to the bedrooms own bathroom. Naruto's mind is blank as he hears the water running, his face hot, his blood rushing faster than ever before and a pressure against his pants lets him know his member is definitely up.

_(AN-I'm not sure about the lemon availability on regular so I'm not going to describe Kurenai's naked body or anything lemony, just hints and a lil bit of light foreplay then off to the next scene. If you want the lemon part of the story just send me a request for it to my email at and label the subject line Lemon Request. I'll send it to you. Ciao!!)_

Ryuuki looks around at the group of Konoha Shinobi, a grin forming on his face at the blush on Naruto's face a smirk on Kurenai's. "I chose all of you for a very specific reasons, or in some peoples case reasons. The main reason is all of you have a high potential at learning how to use Ki. We will start your training in how to access and use your ki today. Those who learn to access it will be joining a member of my clan in our time chamber." Ryuuki looks and smiles at the confused looks of the Shinobi before him. "Using a jutsu that uses both chakra and ki we are able to slow down time inside this room so that one day out here is an entire year within the chamber. Naruto, because you have access to ki already you will enter the chamber last and I will be personally teaching you a couple techniques while we wait for your turn." He snaps his fingers and five people appear in the room, one Sheri who smiles and waves at Lee. Kye smirks at Sakura who blushes slightly, the other people are unknown. "These will be your personal Ki trainers. Follow their directions and you will succeed since all are also teachers at the academy." He turns to his people and nods his head as they all move forward and greet their trainees.

Sheri bounds over to Lee and smiles. "Hey cutie pie, I'll be training you!!" Lee grins and both simply flash from sight with pure speed.

Kye saunters over to Sakura, a smirk plastered on his face. "Seems like I can't stop helping you, huh Sakura-chan?" Sakura plants a fist in his face knocking him to the ground but it was a regular punch.

She smirks at Kye and gives him a hand up. "That's Sakura-sama to you teme..." She smiles with him as they head out of the compound to a training ground.

A man walks up to Kakashi, his face neutral, his tone no different than his face. "Hello Kakashi-san. My name is Ryuukishin, I'm Sheri's father. Shall we begin?" Kakashi eye smiles and motions for him to lead the way.

A woman bounds up to Kurenai, a smile plastered on her face. "Hi! I'm Shishen, Sheri's mama, let's get out of this boring place and have some fun!!" Kurenai smiles at the energetic woman, Sheri obviously got her attitude from her mother.

Tenten watches as a girl her age approaches her, a look of doubt on the girl's face. "Hello, I hear you're a weapons specialist, is that true?" Tenten nods and is surprised when a looks of utter joy replaces the doubt. "Thank GOD!! I was hoping I wouldn't be stuck with a person with no knowledge of the weapon!!" Grinning she grabs Tenten's hand and practically drags her away.

Naruto looks at Ryuuki who motions for Naruto to follow. They leave the compound and head towards a training ground. On the way Naruto finally gets a chance to look around the village. One word sums up what he sees, massive!! He'd seen the monster walls, twice as big as Konoha's, but behind those monstrous walls was one hell of a monstrous village. Hardly any buildings were less than three or four stories tall and there were so many people walking around he couldn't believe this village hadn't been found by even the most untrained of humans on the outside. He says so to Ryuuki who just smiles and looks down at him.

"Naruto-san, ask your friends sometime but I'll tell you now. None of them saw the village till we entered it. I know you saw the walls didn't you?" Naruto nods. "That's because only those with the same blood of someone within these walls can see this village. We have an enormous and powerful Genjutsu over the entire village. Those walking towards it with no knowledge of the place will simply walk around it without even realizing it, those looking to cause harm and are too weak to resist it will simply walk off a cliff on the eastern border of the village." Here Ryuuki stops in the street and looks hard at Naruto. "Naruto, do you know why we are referred to as the Guardians?" Naruto shakes his head. "It's because we are the last and only line of defense against the demons of Makai, or Hell as some refer to it. Kyuubi and the other Biju were fighting to protect this world. Your mother Toshi was like you, the most powerful fighter our clan had ever produced. Kyuubi took her under his wing because of this, unknowingly sealing his fate to aid you in the fight to come. Come, we will be talking to Lord Kyuubi again, and trust me, now he will see things differently since he hears everything you hear." They continue their trek through the village, Naruto once again taking in the sights, deciding it would be better to think over everything later after he talked with Kyuubi once more. Naruto noticed the shops and buildings growing fewer by the minute until they were walking an overgrown path in the forest. Looking forward he sees a gate with chains wrapped tightly around the meeting places of the two. Ryuuki lifts a finger pointing at the chain and a small but powerful ki beam slams into the lock shattering it and destroying parts of the chain which rattle to the ground. "This used to be the Matsuo compound, after Toshi deserted the Village we were ordered to the middle of the Village so that we could be watched. The council believed our whole clan were trying to desert the village." Ryuuki's angry growl told him that his family had been through hell because of his mother, and he looks down in shame. "Toshi was smart, the council were becoming more and more corrupt with every passing year, they had planned to use her as their secret weapon to take over the Elemental Countries. Lord Kyuubi sensed this and that's why he destroyed it." Naruto frowns; his dislike of Council's being raised to a new level. A Shinobi's life was centered around the need for speed, but all the Councils did was slow things down and then it's too late.

Naruto looks up and past the solid gates which now stood open and his eyes bulged. The place was huge. Before him stood a three story house that had to be several hundred feet wide he couldn't be sure, but off to the sides were more buildings that were two stories high but just as wide. "Wow…" Ryuuki laughs at his grandson. "So what are we doing here oyaji?"

"We are here for your training. Behind the living quarters is about forty acres of land which was our training grounds, filled with everything we need for your training." Ryuuki begins walking towards and opening between the main house and one of the side houses. "First I will teach you to fly and create a barrier using your ki. These are the basics we teach our family before we teach them how to destroy using ki. They're relatively simple aspects and you should be able to master them in minutes. Then I will teach you two of my most powerful techniques; the Kamehameha wave, and my personal technique, the Gotatsu Arashi." Naruto grins, knowing how powerful his regular ki blasts were these techniques must be _way_ more potent.

Lee sits in an Indian style meditation position. Sheri stands in front of him, her eyes serious as she watches Lee, her sense telling her he is feeling through his stamina towards the heart of Ki. "That's it Lee, search the core of your stamina, search out the heart of Ki. You feel that power surrounding you?" Lee nods as he searches within himself, he sees in his mind that he is near the eight gates but this is somehow different. Then he sees it, before him are another set of gates holding back an immense power he'd never felt before. "That's it, you've reached the core, now open your mind to it's power…" Lee feels confused and simply opens the door and suddenly his body is flooded with power beyond that of opening the first four chakra gates. Ki bursts from him throwing Sheri back twenty yards as she stares at Lee in shock. His power was incredible, even more so than her own. His ki reaches towards the sky in such a brilliant green as he stands up and opens his eyes. Instinctively he closes the door but knows it can never be closed fully again as ki continues to circulate through his body, filling in all the chakra coils but separate. His muscles are bulged more than before and he feels immensely powerful.

He looks over to Sheri as she sits on his knees on the ground with her mouth slackjawed. "Sheri-chan, I have a question. The way you described it to me for me to find my ki was look for the source, but I fount eight gates like the Chakra Gates in my mind. I opened the first. Have you ever seen this before?" Sheri's eyes widen, not once in her life had she heard of Eight Gates when it comes to ki, only chakra. She shakes her head and Lee frowns, his knowledge of the gates immense and thorough and somehow he knows that he is the first to see the gates. Reaching into his mind he opens the first again bursting with power once again and he opens the second and the first explosion of power seemed like a small flame compared to the second, his new clothes are strained to the brim by the increase in his muscle size and his hair begins to stand up on end from the force of his power. Wind kicks up around him in a blaze of immense power. A roar escapes his mouth as a image appears in the flame of his ki, the face of a wolf looks down at Sheri before howling silently towards the sky and disappearing once again in his ki. The ground shakes as the power flows forth from both gates, boulders being ripped from the ground and floating in midair. Sheri stares in amazement at the display of pure untapped power and flinches as his power continues to rise. He's testing his limits she realizes as he continues to pull all he can from both gates, the boulder shattering into dust as more ground is broken and raised before Lee's power begins to crater the ground beneath him, his feet shattering the spaces their standing on as he sinks slightly into the ground. With a start she realizes Lee is now at her power level when she transforms into the Guardian form and she is gripped with fear. Lee's potential was monstrous and she knew his body could hold a lot more since he was a pure Taijutsu user. "That's it Sheri-chan, this is all I need for now." Lee looks at her with tears in his eyes. "It's a dream come true!!" He lets the gates close and the ki instantly disappears. "I've always envied everyone around me who could use chakra and now I have my own power!" He drops to his knees in tears of joy as Sheri rushes to him and holds him around the shoulders, realizing as she did that she had assumed the power would corrupt Lee, but she was wrong and her love for Lee grew stronger as her Saijin's blood told her he would give her powerful children someday.

Kye watches as Sakura stands there, her fists clenched in frustration, but he knew she was like him. She would not access her ki unless she became furious. Time to take one for the team he thought. "Come ON!! We don't have all day here pinkie, hurry the fuck up!" Sakura snaps her eyes open and onto Kye, her eyes flashing back and forth from their natural green to blood red surprising Kye. Electricity begins to flash across her body as it begins to lift off the ground the force of her power now coming to the top. With a flash of flaming pink ki surrounds her body. She pulls her arms to her sides, her legs opening shoulder width apart and her head moves back as she lets out a roar of power, rocks lifting off the ground near him and all around her with the force of her power. She touches down as she stops screaming, her ki flaming brightly around her.

"You say something asshole?" and with a flash she disappears and reappears in front of him planting a ki and chakra enhanced punch to his gut sending him screaming through the air with the power of her attack. He grins as he flies through the air before a giant blue flame erupts around him and he stops his ascent.

"Now the fun begins…" And he disappears from sight.

Kakashi stares at Ryuukishin's back, his patience wearing thin since he'd been staring for the last five minutes.

"Kakashi-san…" Kakashi starts. "I heard you were the student of my sister's husband, is that true?" Ryuukishin turns around and looks at Kakashi with the same neutral expression. Kakashi nods his head. "Then tell me, was she happy?"

Kakashi looks to the sky and sighs. "Honestly, yes. When those two were around each other I've never seen love and happiness of that magnitude before or since." He looks at Ryuukishin and eye smiles. "I'd say she was very happy…"

Ryuukishin smiles at Kakashi for the first time. "I'm glad, she was always miserable here since she knew the Council had plans for her…" He returns to his neutral expression, but happiness was obvious in his eyes. "Now, I bet you're wondering why we've just been standing here for the last five minutes. I was measuring your potential and skills. With chakra you are very powerful and have near perfect control. Your ki level is very impressive also and I can tell you have accessed it before whether you know it or not." Kakashi stares in surprise, he'd accessed ki already. "For everyone, accessing ki is different. For you I can tell it's when your mind is completely centered, not thinking of anything. When you first access it you have to be this way, but after a few times of using it you will be able to do it at any time. Clear your mind, think only of a burning inferno of power within your stamina." Kakashi nods and closes his eyes, searching within himself for the power Ryuukishin described, his mind blank as he centers into the ANBU Inyu state of mind, the only state of mind where he felt completely centered and unencumbered. There!!! He feels it and immediately draws upon it and is filled to the brim with power. Ryuukishin smiles as he is almost blown off his feet from the initial force of the ki now surrounding Kakashi in a immense bonfire of power.

Kakashi opens his eye, a steely coldness and concentration practically pouring out of that one eye. So much so it shocks Ryuukishin. He'd heard of Kakashi, the Anbu Captain who almost rivaled the power of the Sennin, now he was seeing the Anbu known as Inyu and he knew it. "I remember this feeling Ryuukishin-san, this is the power I felt when I fought side by side with my friend Obito. I will never forget this feeling again…" Kakashi lets the power drop and his eye returns to normal before the power flares up again with his regular mind frame causing Ryuukishin to stare in surprise.

Such a man would truly be formidable, one access with the state of mind he needed and now he could do it at any time already. Incredible…

Shishen and Kurenai walk through the village as Shishen shares the sights and explains certain statues of important people from the past. "And this fella right here is Goku. He was a Saijin before the Dark War that almost wiped all of humanity from the face of the planet. He's the only one who ever attained almost all the levels of 'Super Saijin', levels one through four. They say when he defeated the last enemy of the planet of his time, he was taken to the heavens on the back of a dragon named Shenron and would return one day." Shishen looks up at the statue with Kurenai. It's a man with immense muscles cut and powerful wearing a karate gi, his hair spiking up funnily to her. "Father thinks Naruto might be the only one since who can attain the Super levels like him, maybe even surpass him. Isn't that amazing?"

Kurenai smiles at Shishen and nods, her mind replaying the mornings events causing her to blush.(AN- She's thinking of the lemon I won't put in the story, request if ya wanna see lol) "I agree Shishen-chan."

Shishen waves her hand and grins at Kurenai. "Please just call me Shi Kurenai-chan." Kurenai grins and Shi motions for Kurenai to follow. "Well I guess that's enough sightseeing for now, we gotta get your ki flowing!" They laugh as they walk towards an empty training field they'd been walking towards the whole time. Shi motions for Kurenai to stand a little bit away as she herself jumps up on a builder and sits. "OK!! You're a genjutsu specialist so this is how you look for your ki. It might be a little hard since Genjutsu is almost entirely mind oriented. Try to look within your stamina by going through your mind." Kurenai closes her eyes, her mind already in the genjutsu state. She sees where she draws her power for her techniques and goes in the opposite direction. Around her is the power she knows is her stamina mixed with spiritual energy, also known as chakra. She goes further and that energy is replaced by one that makes her feel energized, but she can tell it's just pure stamina but she feels where it's coming from and heads towards it. And just like that she has it, she grabs it with her hands in her mind, gaining control of it almost instantly.

On the outside Shi watches for two hours as Kurenai's face shows frustration as she searches then a feeling of accomplishment and a fire erupts up around her in dark red like her eyes. The power pulsates getting bigger causing a strong wind but nothing beyond that. Shi watches and smirks knowing her guess was right. Since Kurenai uses almost nothing else but Genjutsu her ki isn't that strong, but she would change that, this she swore to Kurenai.

Tenten stares in amazement at the precision the throwing stars and strange kunai had impacted the training dummy before her.

"Okay, so you see that is just regular human body strength throwing. Ki can be channeled just like chakra, but ki is far more potent. Throwing a kunai with chakra at your chakra level I'm guessing you can plant the dagger hilt deep in a target correct?" Tenten smirks before tossing a kunai behind her and burying the kunai in hilt deep dead center of another dummy causing the other girl to stare slack jawed. "Wow! You're actually better than me with weapons, I can't do that!!" Grinning she channels some ki into her arm and tosses it at another dummy in front of her and makes Tenten stare in slackjawed amazement this time as the kunai goes through the dummy so hard the dummy literally explodes into pieces. "That's what ki can do with the exact same amount as you used with chakra. We use both in this village since there are some things that can only be done with chakra, like elemental jutsus or wall climbing. The way my sensei put it is chakra is about control and finesse, the woman's side of pure power sorta speak. While ki on the other hand is pretty much just brute force and destroy the enemy completely without being blocked except by a equal or stronger ki." The girl raises her hand and points the palm at a nearby tree, a ball of orange ki forming in her hands before it launches at extreme speed and hits the tree causing a massive explosion in the general area. As the smoke clears Tenten stars wide eyed at a crater and a small amount of wood scattered around the area. "Ki pretty much disintegrates the target, not blow it up. If the attack succeeds in destroying it's target then not much is left. Like chakra though it can be al sorts of different styles; drilling, hammering, or simply incinerating the target. It can be molded into any attack you can imagine, but it takes lots of practice to accomplish this." The girl smiles at Tenten and Tenten smiles back. "We are encouraged to create our own techniques using ki though there are a few basics everyone learns and some basics certain families learn. Everyone learning from Konoha will be taught the basics of the Matsuo family since you're friends of Naruto-sama." The girl looks up thinking about something then blushes and kicks at a rock on the ground. "Oh yeah, I'm Kari by the way, forgot to tell you earlier heheh!" She scratches her head nervously much like Naruto making Tenten giggle. "I'm guessing you know what ki is?"

Tenten nods and looks up at the sky. "Ki is a purer form of Stamina, the source of stamina to be exact." She grins at Kari. "I heard Naruto telling Kakashi about it on our way here."

Kari grins and feels exulted that she had one less thing to explain. "Right! Since you're almost like me I think my way of finding your ki will suit you perfectly." She sits down on the ground Indian style and smiles up at Tenten. "Just think of the finest most perfect weapon you have ever seen in your entire life, feel the happiness when you saw that weapon and grab onto that happiness, follow it back to it's root." Tenten concentrates, trying to see what she thought of as the most perfect weapon of the world, almost instantly an image of when Naruto released the genjutsu came to mind. The muscles almost ready to spring at that moment, a sense of immense power held in check, his blonde flowing hair and blue eyes and the realization that it was a super power transformation he had been holding up for years like it was nothing. The raw power and strength he seemed to hold in check and she knew he was the perfect weapon in all the world. Nothing could defeat her Naruto-kun, nothing at all. Almost as instantly as the image had come a pull on her soul pulled her to her power. Her eyes snap open in surprise startling Kari as power slowly encircles her body in an upward spiral before primal roar erupts from her throat and the power erupts from her. Her ki is enormous, practically ripping pieces of the ground apart and hovering them higher and higher into the air and it just keeps coming as her roar gets louder and louder. She feels herself reach her ki's limit but she doesn't stop. She instinctively starts to pull on that same force that had pulled her to her power and suddenly she erupts with even more and stronger power, her own vibrant blue ki is suddenly flooded with gold and red intermixing with her own yet separate. Her hair gets longer, her eyes flash blue, the buns on her head are ripped out of their confines as her hair halos out around her in powerful upward spikes and starts flashing gold before changing completely gold, her eyes now blue. Her body lifts into the air as she pulls more power, her feminine body now erupting with muscle yet remaining feminine but powerful. The ground crater for thirty feet around her, enormous boulders being lifted from the ground as the ki around her now is bigger than when Ryuuki had showed his to Naruto. She stops screaming and her legs and arms go limp, her head down and covered by her now limp but still spiky hair.

Kari gets up, her eyes wide in shock. An outsider had acquired the Guardian form and was more powerful than the strongest of their clan, Ryuuki-sama. "What are you?" She whispers it to herself but Tenten looks up quickly before looking at the sky, a look of lustful euphoria on her face.

"Naruto-kun…" It's low and guttural, almost primal, and it scares Kari unlike anything else had in her life. The still flaming Tenten floats high above the ground, boulders and smaller rocks, some that had been boulders, floating around her in a slow spiral. Kari blinks and that one millisecond of lost sight shows Tenten gone.

Naruto pants heavily, his hair and eyes back to their 'natural' color as gold flames lick up around his body, his muscles aching as he spars with Ryuuki. With a primal roar he launches at his grandfather and sends a roundhouse kick towards his jaw only to have it caught and thrown back and a fist implanted in his gut sending him flying. "You're still holding your ki back, I know you are more powerful than this. This level of power wouldn't have allowed you to hold up the transformation for years without powering down."

Naruto stands up holding his gut before growling at Ryuuki. "Fine…" He stands up spreading his legs and clenching his fists at his sides. With a roar he starts pulling up all his power, the earth beneath them beginning to shake with the force of his ki as his roar gets louder. Boulders bigger than everyone else's begin to erupt from deep under the ground and shattering into tiny little pebbles. Ryuuki watches in amazement as Naruto easily goes past his own level of power in his Guardian form, then stares slackjawed as Naruto's hair gets longer and his muscles bulge noticeably before shrinking slightly while blue lightning bolts arc over his entire body. This was the Guardian Form Lvl 2, a level no one had attained in many generations since the Saijins first started to mix with their village, and yet he was pulling even more out! Finally Naruto stops and looks over at his Grandfather. "That's it, this is my max…" Naruto was far more powerful than he had ever thought, and this was without accessing Lord Kyuubi's great store of chakra and ki. Hope flared up in Ryuuki unlike any he'd ever felt before since Naruto was this powerful now and he would spend a day in the Time Room he would grow even more powerful. Ryuuki feels something wrong though as Naruto's head snaps to the west, his eyes wide and his power decreasing at a dramatic rate until he is just above Lvl 2. In a flash another figure appears in front of Naruto surrounded by golden flames and extremely long gold hair.

"Naruto-kun…" Tenten floats over to Naruto touching down on the ground before him and wrapping her arms around his neck, her voice primal and lustful and Ryuuki knows he needs to make himself scarce, she'd drawn on Naruto's power through the mating link and he knew a major fight was about to start. With a flash he is gone, a smirk of knowing something the two young ones don't evident on his face. "Mmmmm, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto's blood begins to boil at her touch, his mind slowly melting into his primal Saijin side, his tail unwinding from underneath his clothes and waving spazzingly behind him. "Tenten-chan…"His voice is deeper, primal, and completely dominating making Tenten's eyes widen and a grin start to form on her face. She slams her fist into Naruto gut sending him flying as she follows. Naruto grins, his eyes hidden beneath his bangs. Her power was just beneath Lvl 2 while his was just above. He stops in midair instinctively since Ryuuki hadn't trained him yet, and he rockets towards the incoming Tenten, his fist connecting with her jaw and rocketing her to the ground forming a crater. He slams into her gut with his feet making the crater bigger, she screams in pain before it turns into a purr on pleasure before she slams he foot into Naruto's back throwing him from her body. She leaps out of the crater and throws a ki blast at Naruto sending him crashing through several trees before a ki blast rockets from underneath the ground and slams into her back.

Tenten looks around as the smoke clears trying to find him when he appears behind her and wraps her in his powerful arms and bites her neck slightly piercing the skin and drinks the little bit of blood. She moans before twisting in his arms and biting his neck slightly and licking the blood from the tiny puncture marks while he groans. They descend to the ground lying down almost immediately kissing each other vigorously as their ki intermixes and becomes stronger than before. (AN-Yes there is a lemon here too lol)

Ryuuki laughs at a scratched up, smiling, and blushing Naruto, rips on the back of his vest really the only evidence anyone needs to know what happened. "Well now that that is out of the way giggle we'll start your training. giggle" Naruto frowns at Ryuuki as he continues to try and hold back his laughter. "Ok! First I want to see if you remember how to fly, you just learned how to fly instinctually so lets see if you can do it when not overtaken by your Saijin blood." Naruto nods and thinks back to when he started flying, causing him to blush as he thinks back to what that had led to. Almost instantly he was floating in the air and smiling again. "Good, now to make a ki barrier just think of what you really did to fly, you formed a barrier under your feet and pretty much just pushed the ground away. Form that barrier in front of you instead." Naruto nods and starts to bring up his ki and places his hands in front of him and a small blue shield shaped barrier formed between his hands and he pulls his hands apart making the barrier stretch until it covered his entire front. "Very good, practice it until you can just form it front of you with no hand motions. Right now though I'm going to teach you the Kamehameha wave. Watch closely…" Ryuuki widens his stance and crouches putting his hands in front of him cupped together with the palms facing out. "Kaaaaa meeeee…" He pulls his hand sot his side twisting them slightly so the palms face each other. "haaaaaa meeeee…." An intense blue light forms between his hands growing brighter and brighter until Ryuuki slams his hands forward to the first postion again. "HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" An energy beam of immense size and power bursts from his hands completely obliterating the ground and anything in its way. Naruto stares with wide eyes as it curves up and dissipates in the air. "Whew, now this attack is one of the most powerful attacks in the entire Matsuo arsenal. Try it out, see if you can copy it. Some can do it on their first try, others have to be taught step by step how to accomplish it. Go ahead don't be shy!!"

Naruto nods and crouches down like Ryuuki did. He places his hand sin front of him and pulls them to his side and thrust them forward. "KamehameHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!" Ryuuki groans at the unperfect word usage but quickly stares in amazement as a beam the same sized as his suddenly rockets off not just obliterating the area in front but incinerating it as a red energy spirals around the blue and packs more power than his own. I think Lord Kyuubi is saying he wants to talk to us now Ryuuki thinks.

"Damn good Naruto, but I think that red spiraling around the Kamehameha means Lord Kyuubi wants to talk with us now." Naruto's eyes are wide at the destruction he caused and simply nods his head. Ryuuki runs through about twenty seals before placing an hand on his and Naruto's head. The area around them fades from sight and they are in Naruto's mindscape; however, unlike the sewers that were here the last time Naruto visited there was now a clean marble walkway and instead of pipes there were blue, red, purple, and gold murals of dragons and demons in all out combat in a river of power along the walls.

A dark and primal voice echoes along the walls, warmth and hostility held in it made a very strange mixture of sound. "**Come Naruto, Ryuuki, we have much to discuss…**" Naruto and Ryuuki obey the Kyuubi's command and walk towards a red light behind a door at the end of the hall. Upon opening it Naruto stares in shock and awe as a benevolent and kind looking Kyuubi sits behind gold wrought bars with silver vines and flowers etched into them, the paper with the kanji for seal still remained unchanged though.

Naruto walks right up to the cage as Ryuuki simply stares in awe of his Lord. "Yo Kyuubi!! What happened to this place? It's completely different!" Ryuuki stares in shock and fear at Naruto as he simply stares down his Lord with no fear of retaliation. To his shock though Kyuubi begins to quake with laughter, a calming warmth coming from him as he looks down at Naruto.

"**I've always like you boy, you're bold and so brave. Hold on a minute and I will explain all.**" Kyuubi's body begins to twist and melt down to about Naruto's size before a poof of smoke covers the area he'd shrunk down to. Out of the smoke steps Kyuubi, a female Kyuubi wearing a blood red obi with a black sash, her hair falling down her back in waves of red so bright it was almost ethereal. Her eyes are golden just like Ryuuki's and Naruto's and her fingernails are more like claws. And her body was shaped like that of the most perfect woman, all the right curves in all the right places with a slightly elongated face with whisker marks much like Naruto's. "Ahhh that's better, I hate having to look down so far when having a conversation."

Naruto stares, his eyes wide in disbelief. "You're a GIRL!!!" Kyuubi and Ryuuki laugh at his innocent proclamation before both turn serious again.

Ryuuki steps forward and bows to Kyuubi from the waist and is acknowledge with a bow of the head from Kyuubi. "Lady Kyuubi, before we talk about other things I think we should talk about the coming danger. We believe the Jinchuriki that is attempting to destroy the Villages is the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tailed Dragon of Chaos…" Kyuubi's face darkens, her eyes lighting up with her anger, her teeth show revealing elongated canines and her posture all come together to say one thing, Kyuubi is furious.

She grabs the bars and glares at Ryuuki. "How is he free?! We the Biju sealed him away centuries upon centuries ago!!"

Ryuuki grimaces at the rage in her voice. "It is the Akatsuki my Lady, they broke his seal hoping they could control his power like they are trying to do with the Nine. A few of the members of the Original Nine Akatsuki were killed during his release but as you know the Dragon of Chaos is pure spirit now, so he attached himself to one of them and escaped, traveling until he attacked the village of his Jinchuriki where he was sealed much like you. However, his seal is not as strong and he took over his container and now works through him."

Kyuubi growls in rage and then turns her eyes on Naruto, the same sense he had when she cast her verdict on the Council Head he was getting now. "Uzumaki Matsuo Naruto, Guardian of Fire Country, first to attain Guardian Lvl 2. I, Kyuubi no Kitsune, now charge you with destroying the Ten-tailed Dragon of Chaos. I shall give you all the power within me; chakra, ki, and a power unknown to man. Will you take up this burden I lay upon your shoulders for the good of all mankind, the planet, and every living creature there in lie?"

Naruto looks down, his red bangs covering his eyes as he thinks on what's being asked of him. Savior of the world? Can I really accomplish such a task? Am I ready to put my life on the line to defeat something no one else can, a Jinchuriki of a creature more powerful that Kyuubi herself, a creature it took all Nine of the Biju just to seal? "One question Kyuubi… I know you are powerful, immensely so. How much of your power is equal to mine at my maximum?"

Kyuubi's eyes widen, he wanted to compare himself to her? She closes her eyes and feels for every single little scrap of power Naruto possessed and calculated it against her own. Her eyes snap open in surprise. "Y-your maximum power level is equal to five of my tails!!" She shakes a little in fear since he was young, a mere fourteen years of age and he was as strong as a five tailed Biju and would only continue to get stronger, his potential alone was so frightening and immense that should he be given more time he could destroy the ten tails by his own power, but even with the Time Chamber she had taught her people to make he didn't have enough time, but with her power and his added together after his training he should be at least on even grounds with Chaos.

Ryuuki smiles down at Naruto, his knowledge of the Saijins higher than average and he knows that Naruto is most likely on the edge of Lvl 3 and might even reach the legendary Lvl 4. "I believe in you Naruto-sama…" Ryuuki's voice visibly calms Naruto's nerves.

Naruto looks up at Kyuubi and smirks. "Heh, I knew I was strong but damn heheh…" Naruto walks up to the gate and looks Kyuubi in the eyes. "I accept under one condition…" Kyuubi frowns at Naruto, this wasn't the time or place to be demanding favors when the world needed him. "I don't want your power Kyuubi, not really but I will accept it. I'm not naïve enough to think I can take this Jinchuriki on without any help, but this is my condition." Naruto walks up to the seal and places his hand on it. "You no longer have a body but you can still dwell within my own, as a free being!" And he rips the seal off before either can stop him. The gates crumble and turn to dust before disappearing completely as Kyuubi stares at Naruto in shock. Tears form in her eyes before she wipes them away viciously and smiles at Naruto.

"I accept your condition Naruto-kun…" Ryuuki smiles and forms a seal releasing them from the Inner Soul Genjutsu.

He steps back from Naruto and looks at him with pride in his eyes. "Good job Naruto, very good. It seems like Tenten is waking up now." Naruto blushes and looks towards the compound where they had taken Tenten before the training, her head once again nestled against Naruto's shoulder as he had carried her bridal style, again.

Naruto chuckles to himself as he thinks of how embarrassed Tenten was going to be. "Before I go see her can I ask you something Oyaji?" Ryuuki smirks and nods. "Why did we taste each others blood and what exactly happened?"

Ryuuki's smirk gets bigger as he looks at the blushing face of Naruto. "In our family Naruto, we all have a certain or persons that are meant to be our mate, call a soul mate if you will. Some of us who are blessed with a tail sometimes have more than one. Kurenai and Tenten are two of possibly more mates." Ryuuki looks down at the shocked Naruto and puts his hand on his shoulder. "I know you felt something strange deep in here," He places his hand on his Naruto's chest, "when you first met them, didn't you?" Naruto nods looking down at the ground. "You'll feel that same thing when you meet any others that are 'yours' heheh, I had three by the time I was your age." Ryuuki starts walking away before turning his head back. "It'll be fine, and as for the Blooding and her ability to draw on your power, it's nothing more than the Saijin mating ritual. Tenten is your wife now while Kurenai is merely a mate. One day it'll happen with her and any other women you might come to obtain. And you will love each and everyone equally by instinct and none of them will ever feel jealous of the others, see ya!!" With a poof of smoke Ryuuki disappears leaving Naruto to stare at the sky in wonder.

Naruto looks down at the awaking Tenten, her body covered by nothing more than a blanket. He brushes his fingers lightly over her forehead, pushing the single piece of hair off and behind her ear. "Beautiful…"

Tenten starts at his words, her eyes snapping open as she flies to the corner of the bed lying against a corner of the room. Her hands search her body and widen in shock and fear when she finds she is completely naked. Her fear and shock disappear when she sees a smirking Naruto sitting on the bed leaning back on it with his hands looking her up and down. "What?!" Her voice is frustrated and cross, her mind embarrassed and ashamed of her body, all the scars ranging over her body make her think she is vulgar and ugly looking.

Naruto's smirk widens as he looks her body up and down possessively. "Oh nothing, I'm just really enjoying the view, you are extremely Beautiful you know that right?" She blushes and turns away covering her body not believing his words. _'Ohh and what a wonderful ass too.'_ Tenten's anger and shame rise drastically to the top as she spins around and attempts to slap him only for her hand to be caught easily. "What was that for?"

Tenten spits on him in her rage. " 'oh what a wonderful ass'? You can go fuck yourself Uzumaki Naruto!!" Tears stream down her eyes, but confusion replaces sadness as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her close.

Naruto kisses her neck where his teeth had punctured her skin only hours ago. "Tenten-chan, I didn't say that out loud, I thought it. It's okay, I've been hearing your thoughts as well. You're mine Tenten, no one elses…" His voice is possessive and hungry, her mind blanks as he kisses her neck, the tone of his voice sending shivers up and down her spine. "I know you love me Tenten-chan, I love you as well, this you know. Earlier today we became husband and wife according to the ways of my blood. You know this as well I can tell. And you're not the only one with scars my love." Naruto pulls back and pulls his vest to the side, a huge jagged scar on his chest right over his lung makes Tenten gasp in shock. "My best friend and brother did this to me, but I know it wasn't all him. It was the curse seal forced on him from Orochi-teme…" He lets the vest drop back, hiding all but a few lines here and there. "Scars do not matter Tenten, and in all honesty, the scars and you only enhance your beauty to me. It shows you're a serious kunoichi, a serious woman, and one hell of a fighter. I love you Tenten, that's all that matters."

Kurenai looks at the two from the door and giggles making Tenten jump and try to cover herself up with the blanket. "Oh no need to cover up on my account, sweety." Tenten starts at the little nickname from Kurenai. "Naruto is after all, both of ours Sweety." She shuts the door and starts walking towards the two.

AN- So watcha think? I told ya this chapter wasn' gonna be short lol!! Read and Review, ciao!!!

JOHN


	16. Chapter 16

The Lost Guardians

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 16

It's been five days since everyone started their training, five days since Naruto and Tenten became man and wife according to the customs of Naruto's clan. Has it really only been five days? Naruto shakes his head that such a short period of time could change his life so drastically. During those five days while Naruto waited his turn in the Time Room it seemed like everyone member of the surprisingly large Matsuo Clan wanted to teach him their own special techniques. During his time off he'd walked through the village and saw nothing but respect in the eyes of everyone but a select few and those he had simply because he contained their Lord inside himself. And speaking of which he had been talking to Kyuubi at night within the seal. Now that she was free it seemed she took advantage of his offer and completely change his mindscape from a overflowing sewer to a bright thriving forest with a log cabin and garden. He remembers the first time he visited after his visit with Ryuuki to his inner mind.

Flashback: Inner Mind

Naruto opened his eyes at was immediately stunned. Where he had expected a sewer with different colored pipes he now saw a huge forest, the kind he'd only read about in his history class during the academy. Before him stood a mixture of redwoods, pines, firs, and so many other variety of trees and plants he couldn't name them all. A simple path cleared of any debris and free of overhang was the only way through the forest it seemed so he followed the path. Not long into his journey he spots a clearing with a simple fire pit made from small boulders and carved logs as seats around the fire. Behind the fire was a rather large two storied log cabin with various glyphs, runes, and other markings carved into every log. To the right of the cabin was a huge garden filled to bursting with various vegetables, fruits, grains, and from what he could see a variety of poisonous plants.

Kyuubi steps out of the door of the cabin wearing, of all things, a farmers overalls and carrying a gardening hoe. Her eyes widen slightly as Naruto approaches, confusion and awe written across his face plain as day. "Hello Naruto-kun, how are you this evening?"

Naruto looks her up and down, the bare skin under the suspenders of the overalls making his mind rush through various naughty things. "Well I was coming to have a converstion witcha bought something, but now I wanna know why you did all this."

Kyuubi's hair stands up a little as a small bit of anger creeps into her eyes and voice. "And what exactly was I supposed to do hmmm? Live in a god forsaken sewer for the rest of our lives?! I don't think so, so I changed it to live more comfortably, and if you have a problem with that then you can shove it cause I don't wanna hear it!!"

Naruto smirks before sitting on a log next to the fire, feeling its warmth spread through his body not even bothering to wonder how a fire in his mind could possibly have any warmth at all. "Why would I complain? A beautiful woman such as yourself deserves better than a sewer as a residence." He puts his hands towards the fire warming his palms before resting his arms on his knees and letting his hands dangle limply between his legs. "I was just wondering why this particular setting instead of something more…majestic I guess is the word I'm looking for."

Kyuubi sighs leaning her ho against the house and sitting across the fire from Naruto. She stares into the flaming depths and smiles reminiscently. "Long ago, when I was only a human, I lived in a place much like this. It was right after the Fourth World War, when countries long past used a weapon called a nuke on each other nearly wiping the human race from the face of the planet. There were a few places the radiation never touched or came close to touching and I lived in one such place with my husband and children." Kyuubi looks up at a marveling Naruto, he having never heard of this before. "Your history books have no knowledge of this since the people of that time decided against keeping any written history or schooling in favor of just simply surviving. One day though my youngest son decided that enough time had passed and that the Forbidden areas were safe again and so he traveled to one that was relatively close. When he returned he was a changed man and had a power we at the time called Black Magic and his eyes had completely changed, they had become the Rin'negan." Naruto looks at her in surprise, and a slight amount of fear. "That's right, my son was the forefather of all Shinobi, the one called a Sage." Kyuubi sighs in remembrance and pain as she see her son within her mind, even though he was more demon than anything at that point. "He had always hated his father who did nothing but beat him and try to 'make him stronger' as he had put it. When he returned changed he killed his father and siblings. He left me alive but not for lack of trying to kill me, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. I still don't know to this day why."

Naruto looks at the ground and sighs. "I'm guessin this led to however you became the Kyuubi?"

Kyuubi nods, his mind seeing clearly what had happened those fateful days. "I journeyed to the forbidden zone, hoping to find the same power or something greater. It worked… As I traveled through the rotting city I felt myself get stronger, my senses growing ten fold with a mere couple of hours, but I pressed on and eventually I reached the heart of the dead city where an enormous crater stood as a reminder of the bomb that was dropped. I went in, hoping that at the center of this monstrous crater I'd find a strength I needed to stop my demon of a son, and I did." Kyuubi put her hand to her chest and it began to sink within her body, shock showing on Naruto's face, before she pulls her hand back out holding a strange blue stone which glowed with an ethereal power. "I told you before I would give you all of my chakra, ki, and a power unknown to mankind, this is that power. I found this at the bottom of the crater and years later I realized it was a stone from an entirely different dimension and it is called Materia. The radiation from the bomb not only ripped a hole in dimensions long enough for this to pass through, but it also changed it slightly. This is called the Master Summon Materia, it allows you to summon any creature at all with no cost or blood sacrifice. When I picked it up from it's cradle I was instantly flooded with the power of the stone itself, changing me into the demon Kyuubi, only I had one tail at the time. I searched for more and more power going to all the centers of the nuclear attacks, finding more Materia in almost everyone until I had Nine tails and was beyond powerful, I was a God. By that time my son had started the Shinobi and tried to lead them into a quest for world domination. He found me instead and died that day, his power and Shinobi scattered across the land. I tried to die, but found I was Immortal. Eventually I was summoned to what you call Heaven, and was given the rank and power of the Guardian of Fire and others like me were given similar ranks and powers. We became the Nine, the generals of Kami's army and protectors of the earth." Kyuubi stands up walking across the flame like it didn't exist and puts the Master Summon Materia in Naruto's hand. "This is now yours, it will reside within your very soul granting you unlimited access to all it and my power." She looks at the sky and sighs again. "Not long after our meeting with Kami another being came to be, another son from me when I took a powerful Shinobi as my mate. He was born a Tailed Beast, but unholy and powerful, he became the Ten-Tailed Dragon of Chaos. I assembled the Nine and Kami's army and we attacked him after he went berserk killing everything in sight. The battle was long and hard until only the Nine themselves were left, and with our combined power we sealed him away forever, never knowing any human or humans would be powerful enough to unleash him again upon the world." Kyuubi falls to her knees, her hands clamped on her face as tears flood down her face. "Why? Why do my sons always bring destruction and death with them?!"

Naruto wraps his arms around the sobbing Kyuubi as she buries her face in his chest, her hands clenching his vest tightly. "Shhhhh, it's alright Kyuubi, it's alright… Shhhhhhh…."

End

After that Naruto had picked up Kyuubi after she had cried herself to sleep and taken her to the cabin laying her down on an enormous and very comfortable looking bed. Sighing Naruto stands from his own bed and looks back at the sleeping face of Kurenai. He smiles as she mumbles his name in her sleep, a sleep she rightly deserved since she was the first to enter the Time Room the day after she had learned to access her ki. Then it was Lee, then Sakura, now Tenten is in the room. When Tenten exits the room it will be his turn then Kakashi is last. With a sigh and a kiss to Kurenai's forehead he starts getting ready. His new outfit Ryuuki bought him went on without a seconds hesitation and Naruto kinda liked the look of it when Ryuuki handed it to him. He turns to look at himself in the mirror and grins. It's simple but powerful since the material it's made from is specifically designed to guard against ki and chakra attacks, though it isn't a perfect defense. He wears a tight white tank top covered by a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up showing off his muscular arms. A black leather belt with a matte black buckle holds op a pair of loose black pants that are tucked into his regular biker boots. Hanging from his belt is his leather pouch on the right, on the left is a powerful looking katana, though no decorations coat it's handle or sheathe. Naruto grins as he looks in the mirror at his outfit, the almost overwhelming aura of his sword invisible at his waist.

Ryuuki smiles as Naruto walks up to the Time Chamber wearing the outfit he'd bought for him. "Hey Naruto, you ready for this?"

Naruto looks up at his grandpa, a smile on his face as ki flares around him for a split second ruffling his hair and clothes. "Yep, question is are you ready oyaji?"

Ryuuki just smirked as he turned to the Chamber door and looked at his watch. "3…2…1…" The door opened soon followed by a rough looking and smiling Tenten with a beaten up Kari holding herself up with an arm over Tenten's shoulders. "So I'm guessing the training was a success?"

Tenten nodded and Kari looks up at Ryuuki, "Definitely Ryuuki-sama, I can't believe she's as powerful as she is Lord Ryuuki." Tenten blushes at the compliment before inventing a new level of crimson as her eyes catch Naruto's gazing at her hungrily and possessively at the same time.

Ryuuki chuckles at the young couple before moving towards the door. "Well Naruto-kun, might as well get this show on the road eh?" Naruto frowns at being interrupted from his 'game' but shrugs and walks towards the door. Tenten lets out a small squeak as Naruto pinches her ass as he passes before stepping through the door of the Time Chamber.

Naruto sits in a Lotus position, his mind centered and focused in meditation. He feels his chakra as it rushes through his body keeping him alive. His Ki is spread through his body and pulses with his heart beat and a sense of extreme density brings an unconscious smile to his face. He follows the chakra pathways noticing a stronger density of ki spiraling around them before they lead him to a solid mass of power around his heart that was neither ki nor chakra. His grin widens, he'd finally found the materia now within his soul. He mentally grabs the power and pulls and feels the rush of power as his body is surrounded with a slow reddish aura.

_**Summon me Master**_

Naruto grins as the image of an immensely powerful dragon begins to shape within his mind.

_**Command me**_

_**Use my strength!**_

A seal array larger than any he'd ever seen spreads out from his feet stretching for a hundred feet in all directions. "Come forth BAHAMUT!!" A burst of upwards light and clouds formed before an enormous figure dropped down, it's great horned head and powerful scaled muscles rippling as it's wings flashed out and cought itself in the air before folding as it dropped to the ground right behind Naruto on all fours roaring it's defiance of any enemy who dared to go against it's master. The strange floating wheel against it's back spun slowly as it stood up on two powerful hind legs and crossed it's arms. (For those who don't know it's Bahamut from Final Fantasy X)

"**What is thy command Master?**"

Naruto looked up into the eyes of the dragon Bahamut standing before him, who twitched at the eye contact. "I have many enemies in the days to come my friend. " Bahamut twitched again and seemed to shuffle it's feet a little nervously. "I know your abilities, knew them as soon as you were summoned. But tell me more about YOU my friend."

"**Stop that…**"

Naruto looked up surprised. "Stop what Bahamut?"

"**Stop talking to me as if we are equals, you're the Master and I am the slave.**" Bahamut blinked before stepping back, an unknown feeling of fear growing in his belly as the happily confused look on Naruto's face is quickly turned to such an intense anger it seemed to shimmer. His slitted eyes widen as the seeming shimmer erupts into a roar of intense ki flame, his hair flashing to gold and a powerful killing intent radiated forth.

"YOU STUPID IGNORANT DRAGON!! I hold no slaves, you are a comrade in arms and I would hope a friend." Naruto glares at Bahamut, his power lowering as he shakes himself trying to ease the anger within.

Bahamut looks down at his Master, a chuckle growing in his throat before letting a deep rasping bellow forth totally confusing Naruto no end. "**Young Master, I have lived for countless centuries, been subservient to many and never has one appeared such as you.**" Naruto blinks and Bahamut kneels down before him and gives his version of a friendly smile. "**Within your soul lies the materia of my soul. This gives you complete mastery over my very existence. The one who holds that power could erase the very being of my existence within the universe. But you are different, and as such I will tell you a secret I've never released to any other in time immoral.**" Bahamut raises up again and looks down at Naruto. "**This skill has never before been performed though I know of its existence. With my materia you can merge our souls and bodies together creating a more powerful creature with all of our power, knowledge and technique together. I feel this ability will be needed in the battles to come.**"

Naruto smiles as he looks up at is dragonic friend. "I thank you Bahamut for this gift. And I promise to use it wisely. I do however have one favor to ask, from friend to friend." Bahamut paid close attention, swearing in his mind to do whatever it is that Naruto asked of him. "In the years to come I will become powerful, immensely so. Should the power corrupt me, as I've seen it do to others, I want you to do anything and everything you can to stop me from harming innocents, even if it means destroying me. Do you promise to do this for me?"

Bahamut stares slack jawed, not once in all his many many years had anyone asked him to destroy them should they turn evil. He'd had the displeasure to serve a few who had wishing he could destroy them but knowing it would mean his own destruction to go against their commands. He growls knowing his internal oath wouldn't allow him to deny Naruto's request. "**I will do as you command Master, for to me that **_**is**_** a command. As your friend; though, I accept your request with a heavy heart. For if one as pure as you were to be corrupted then all hope is lost for humanity.**"

Ryuuki looks across at Naruto, his breaths coming in fast pants, his clothes rumpled and torn in a few places. Naruto's condition is the same and with an invisible signal both launch at each other, their fists and feet blurring through the air as they attack. Neither gets a shot in as the continue mercilessly against each other as shockwaves pound the area around them. They leap back, both powering up a wordless Kamehameha before launching the attacks. They slam into each other battling for dominance in the space between the two warriors. Ryuuki's eyes widen as Naruto pulls his hands apart making two Kamehameha before slamming his hands together doubling the power of the attack. Ryuuki throws in more power making his attack be pushed back a little bit at a time instead of extremely fast. With a grunt he releases his attack and hurls himself to the side before he could be hit. "Omega THREE!!" Ryuuki puts his arms over his head and a huge black energy ball forms with a powerful swirling mass of chakra and ki mixed within. White lightning crackles across the outside.

Naruto looks at the growing ball and smirks. "Rasengan Tri Force!!" A Rasengan forms in both hands and one floated above his head. One made of chakra, one with ki, and one glows a deep bloody red with Kyuubi's power. He moves his hands forward bringing the edges of all three together as they begin swirling in the air before merging together, sweat pouring down Naruto's face trying to maintain control of three separate powers as they merge together into one normal sized Rasengan with the three colors swirling in a roaring tempest of power within. He continues to push his hands together, his arms and body shaking with the effort as he condenses the attack further and further until it's the size of a large marble. He pulls the attack to his side like a Kamehameha and holds it watching as Ryuuki finally finishes his own attack, the energy ball now large beyond measure floating above his hands over his head.

Ryuuki looks away from his attack to Naruto seeing the tiny orb of bright glowing power held within his hands. He begins to comment of such a tiny attack when he sees the amount of strain and sweat on Naruto's face and his mouth shuts tight. With as powerful as Naruto is then an attack making him strain that hard to hold it must be immensely powerful. "Ready Naruto? Make sure you dodge this or you _will_ die." His pride makes him taunt Naruto, knowing it's only to hide his fear of the attack in Naruto's hands.

Naruto smirks knowing full well Ryuuki had understood the strength of this attack. "Same goes for you Jii-san." Both grin widely at each other before roaring and forcing their attacks forward. Naruto's arms seem to struggle with pushing the attack but once it leaves his hands it rockets towards the slowly moving black mass of power coming from Ryuuki. They connect and with not even the slightest resistance Naruto's attack seems to slice through the dark ball reaching the center almost instantly. "Boom…" That simple word from Naruto causes light to flash out of the tiny marble of power before it explodes. The dark ball is shredded instantly before a huge dome of destruction knocks Naruto and Ryuuki away, cuts of various sizes appearing on both their bodies from the Rasengan enhanced chakra blades. They both land in a crouch watching the dome of power begin growing, the wind from the attack ruffling their clothes harshly. Naruto thrusts his hands forward creating a ki and chakra barrier surrounding the explosion only to feel his barrier almost instantly begin to crack from the pressure. He quickly transforms to his Guardian form, barely stopping the cracking of his shield. His teeth grit before he starts transforming to level two stopping the cracking immensely, but it still wasn't enough. His eyes widen as he feels something beneath his barrier, something sentient.

_Release me fool!!_

Naruto's teeth grit even more as the thing beneath the barrier begins laughing within his mind.

_You weakling, this meager barrier will not hold me for long. Then I will destroy you…_

Ryuuki watches as Naruto roars drawing every ounce of chakra and ki within his body to hold the destructive force within, but the invisible cracks were quickly becoming very visible. He wanted to help but knew he could do nothing. He frowns as the dome begins condensing without loosing any of its strength as he wonders exactly what in hell is going on. Realization dawns on him as he rushes to Naruto. "Release it Naruto!! You must fight it and bring it under control!!"

Naruto looks up at Ryuuki as he yells at him and watches as he pulls a blade from out of nowhere. He leaps away towards the station where the door to their world resides. He looks back at the cracking barrier and sees the dome has taken the shape of an enormous oriental dragon with six bat like wings and an uncountable amount of eyes on it's head.

_You are weak; I will not be dominated by such a weak creature!!_

Naruto growls as his mind is made up releasing the barrier and pulling as much of the released power back within him, centering it all with his core enhancing his power and strength greatly. "FUCK YOU!!" Naruto roars as he launches at the incoming mouth of the dragon before him.

AN-Yo!! Hows everything with my faithful readers? Well I hope ya'll enjoyed this and please remember to review and tell me what you wanna see next, so far no one really has lol! Oh well! Ciao!!

JOHN


	17. Chapter 17

The Lost Guardians

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 17

Naruto groaned as he picked himself up off the ground, his hair and eyes back to their normal colors. His muscles weak and tired and his energy reserves, both chakra and ki, completely exhausted. The dragon laughs thirty yards to Naruto's left, various wounds and injuries covering its scale armor, its mouth pulled up into a grin as it eyes the boy.

_Truly you are a formidable opponent Naruto-san, to injure me this much is something to be very proud of._

Naruto grins before grunting and picking himself back up. "Heh, you say that but I know you're hardly injured teme…" He pulls a kunai from his leg pouch and rushes at the dragon again who slashes at the incoming figure.

Ryuuki watches the two dodge and counter attack once more, his eyes open wide at the battle before him. He couldn't believe Naruto could keep up this amount of determination and strength even with as exhausted as he was. He grins knowing Naruto is near his limit but continuing anyways, and when he recovered he'd be even more powerful than before, if he didn't die in this test of wills that is.

The dragon watches Naruto get up time and time again. In the beginning of their battle he held absolutely no respect for the little insect, but over the hours of constant battle his respect grew. He'd given this test to many potentials in the past, giving up all hope of ever finding 'the One' who could compete with him. His surprise was evident then when Naruto, wielding nothing but his natural strength and a kunai, penetrated his defenses and slashed the dragon across the cheek, actually slashing through the harder than diamond scale armor and cutting true flesh. _Yes!!_

Naruto leaps back as the word echoes through his mind, the joy in the dragon's voice confusing. How could you be happy to be slashed and blood running down your face? True to his nature the only thing he could think to say was. "Wha..?"

The dragon drops from his offensive stance and crouches, lowering it's sinuous neck down till he was eye level with Naruto. _You have passed Naruto-sama. Never in all my existence has anyone gone as far as you in my test. Never have I been injured enough to bleed. _The dragon stands on it's back legs, it's tremendous length reaching high in the sky. _I pledge myself to the one called Uzumaki Naruto!! My power is his power, from now till the end of time!!_ With a flash the dragon vanishes only to be replaced by a floating katana, the blade shining of the purest white ever before seen. The guard non existent as a black deeper than pitch surrounds the handle. _I am the Divine Dragon Ragnarok; call upon me when you have need of me._ Naruto steps forward, grasping the handle of the blade, a surge of strength unknown to him rushes through his veins, and he feels his soul come together in a way he'd never known before. _Now, call my name!!_

Naruto holds the blade, the tip pointing to the heavens and he feels the strength within him grow. "Come forth, RAGNOROK!!" Light flashes through the area forcing Naruto's and Ryuuki's eyes closed. As the light dims Naruto looks back at his sword and gasps. A small ball floats in front of the handle strangely reminiscent of the Rasengan Tri Force attack. Two blades float above the ball reaching up and carved with strange runes. He slashes thinking the floating would cause it to act different but it stays together with an invisible force as if connected.

"Your blade is very impressive Naruto-kun." Naruto looks over at Ryuuki and grins. "However the battle with your blade took longer than expected. We only have one hour before we must leave."

Naruto frowns but nods in understanding. "I still want to try one more thing Oji-san. I know I can do it but I want to try it out once before using it in battle so I'll know what I'm getting myself into." Ryuuki nods as Naruto stands up and draws power from the materia. "Come forth, BAHAMUT!!" Bahamut rockets out of the suddenly appearing clouds landing behind Naruto.

"**What is thy wish Master?"**

Naruto grins up at his dragon friend. "I want to test the fusion you told me about. I need to know what happens before we use it in battle or else it'd be like walking into an enemy not knowing which end of a kunai is the sharp end." Bahamut nods his head and Naruto grins again, slashing his sword making it transform back to normal and sheathing it in the sheathe at his side where the other sword had strangely disappeared, which Naruto has yet to realize. "Good, now lets do this." He concentrates on the materia, the knowledge of how coming to his mind from Bahamut. He merges the materia with his soul as their two bodies begin to glow. They lift off the ground, Naruto floating in front of Bahamut's chest before he merges with the dragon. Bahamut simply floats there glowing for a second before armor plating begins to appear in front of his body and sliding into place on his body. Leg armor snaps onto place followed by a chest plate and bracers. The swirling wheel on his back bends and shapes to his back before a metal coating forms over it. A helm forms floating above Bahamut's head before lowering down and covering the entire top portion with eye holes uncovered. The second it latches on armor plating descends from it covering the entirety of the neck while not hindering movement. A massive kite shield forms with the Uzumaki clan symbol on it near the left hand before latching onto the bracers. A sword handle forms in the air before Bahamut who reach out and grabs it forming a larger and pure black version of Naruto's released Ragnarok.

"_**Let those who stand before us know their doom should they cross us, for we are Neo Bahamut protectors of all that is and shall ever be!!"**_ Neo Bahamut floats in the air, his armor color a brilliant blood red against is multicolored scales, his wings flapping in a constant rhythm keeping him air born. He turns his head to look at Ryuuki and points his sword at the trembling man before him. _**"Do not fear us Ryuuki-san, I hold no threat to you and yours unless they upset the balance of Creation."**_ Neo Bahamut looks to the heavens before roaring, black and white lightning flaring across his body as his power begins to skyrocket. With a flash of green and gold the armor grows spikes and changes to gold, his glowing red eyes now glowing an oceanic blue which seems to drip from the holes in his helmet. Two more wings made entirely of ki extend and keep rhythm with his real wings. _**"Guardian form still accessible. Yes, with this power we can protect your loved ones Naruto-sama." **_

Ryuuki looks at the monstrous transformed dragon before him as a green and gold flame of power continues to flare around it. His mind in total shock at the power emanating from his grandson's new form. In this form Naruto could more than destroy the entire Guardian's Village in an instant with no resistance from the entire army put together. With a sudden strike of fear he also realizes Naruto is slightly more powerful than Kyuubi, and he hadn't even accessed the Kyuubi's power, his Guardian form lvl 2, OR the full power of his sword. Only one word came to his mind at this revelation. "Fuck…"

Sasuke sits in his room reading over a Jutsu scroll, his mind centered and exploring the uses of such a technique. It was a scroll on the summoning of a demon and merging it within yourself making you a type of Jinchuriki, but he frowns as he realizes the most powerful demon he knows of is sealed within Naruto. No matter what demon he summons and merges with he would never have the power to defeat Naruto if he gained access to all of Kyuubi's true power. "Arrrrggghhh!!" He throws the scroll at the wall in frustration. "Is there no fucking way for me to even our power if he does it?!" His sharingan spins in anger when a sudden chill runs down his spine. He looks around the room in fear trying to find where this fear was coming from. Seeing nothing he looks within and tries to find the source inside. His eyes widen as he looks to the north, the sharingan gone and his mouth open. The fear was linked to his memories of Naruto and suddenly he remembers the Sharingan could feel if someone he'd fought had gained incredible power, and his fear grew. "No…."

Tsunade and Jaraiya look over their plans again. Word had just reached them that Sound and Akatsuki were on the move and they wanted to be prepared. "Jaraiya, do you know when they will mobilize?"

Jaraiya looks down at the reports he'd gotten from his information network and grimaces. "Yeah, Akatsuki will be on the move in the next year, two years shorter than originally thought. Sound will be moving not long after. Any idea when Naruto's mission will be over? He has to be here or we can't protect him Tsunade-hime…"

Tsunade nods but frowns. "Ryuuki's mission stated that their village will be under attack by the Ten-Tails within the next month or two. Depending on how things go and who survives we'll see the team back immediately after it's over, or some will come back and Naruto will stay…"

Tsunade and Jaraiya both look to the North West in surprise and fear. A power never felt before comes from that direction and both feel as if they should know the source. With sudden realization they both say the one word that came to their minds. "Naruto…"

Hyuuga Hinata sits on her bed staring at her one true love. She doesn't know why she knows that, but for some strange, and dare she say 'primal'; reason she just KNOWS that Naruto is to be hers, but not hers alone. The feeling is strange only started after the graduation test, though she had loved him before then. The picture in her hands is one Naruto had had delivered to her after the Chunin Exam Preliminaries, a note attached saying he would 'kick Neji's baka ass for her'. She smiles down a the picture when a suddenly warm feeling flows through her mind. Her head snaps up to the North West, her mouth wide in surprise before a powerfully warm smile spread across her face, then determination. "My Naruto-kun is becoming more powerful. I need to to or he will be ashamed of me…" Unbeknownst to her, but knownst to us (LOL Spaceballs rocks!!), a white aura begins to pulsate around her body ruffling the covers of the bed and her clothes. With a determination barely seen in her she gets up and leaves her room, the pulsating aura growing before snapping around her in a flare before dying as she steps through her door. Today Hyuuga Hinata would change for her love….

The Konoha Shinobi stand around panting, each having wanted to test themselves while Naruto trained so they could re-evaluate their positions on the team. So far Kakashi and Lee were the only ones truly having an easier time with their new techniques, though Tenten and Kurenai are close seconds. Sakura holds her stance, her ki flaring around her, but is easily being eclipsed by all the others, which pisses her off and increases the strength of all her blows. She smiles though as she realizes she's the only one here to actually combine the ki in with her regular chakra fighting style. Everyone's eyes widen as a power outclassing them all falls over them and they stare in amazement in the direction of the Time Chamber, as does everyone in the Village. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, knows the power suppression seals on the Time Chamber doors which hold the power within from exiting the door and disrupting anything on the outside, but power the likes none of them had ever felt before still leaks through the door, which means whatever was exuding the power within was hundreds maybe even millions of times more powerful than what they were feeling now. The Konoha Shinobi all said it at once. "Naruto…" And everyone one of them smiled with pride while the Guardians shivered with fear.

Ryuuki watches on in amazement as Neo Bahamut lands on the ground, his aura flaring greatly around him. He pulls his massive Ragnarok to his hip under his shield. "_**OMNISLASH!!"**_ Neo Bahamut disappears, hundreds of blazing slashing arcs flying into the distance before he reappears High in the air, his sword raised over his head with the blade glowing an intense white with an orb of power a the tip before slashing down all the way to the ground landing in a crouch and an explosion from the orb flashes forward disappearing in the infinite whiteness of the Time Chamber. Neo Bahamut stands up before he seems to slump, a flash of white and Naruto stands there with his blade back to its regular form. "Whoa…" He says before collapsing. Ryuuki rushes over to the fallen naruto and tries to wake him only to sigh and pick him up, they only had five minutes left as he headed for the door. Naruto opens his eyes for a second. "Grandpa, thanks for this…" Ryuuki looks down at an unconscious but smiling Naruto and reaffirms himself that Naruto would NOT be going back.

Naruto stares across the fire at a wide eyed jaw dropped Kyuubi as he and a human looking Bahamut chuckle to themselves. "H-how is this possible?"

Naruto looks over at Bahamut seeing him grinning in pride he laughs. "Well according to Bahamut all the summons have the Fusion ability, but they swore never to tell anyone about it unless they saw the person was worthy, I mean you can't just trust anyone with that knowledge or someone would go on a destruction spree ya know Kyuubi-chan."

Bahamut looks up at the two and grimaces. "Naruto-sama, that wasn't the reason we made that vow." Naruto looks at his friend as he sighs. "When the Fusion technique is performed, the materia is absorbed completely into the soul correct?" Naruto nods, confusion on his face while Kyuubi stares in horrified amazement. "Which means we truly become one Naruto-sama. That's why I'm here instead of going back to the Summon realm. From now to the day you die I'm in a similar position as Kyuubi, technically 'sealed' within you and when you are reborn I will be as well, and you will have the fusion ability automatically. We summons figured this out when long ago one man found out materia stones before we truly became summons, at that time we were merely mindless demons. He was a harmonixer, a human who 'eats' the souls of demons he defeats. In his own mindscape he defeated those demons and had the ability to merge with them turning himself into something like what we just did. He had fusions already from past lives, and had one for each element in existence. He was a good man though, stopping the destruction of the world over and over again in every reincarnation, so the higher ups in Heaven and Hell left him alone. Hell mainly because he stopped those that went against their orders."

Kyuubi turned to a shocked, sad, and confused Naruto. "You see Naruto, long before Humanity came into existence, there was a war between Heaven and Hell, a war that threatened to destroy all existence within Creation. Since then there was a treaty made. Hell would continue as it would but by only sending lower demons to convert Humanity while Heaven would merely send it's lower classed Angels to attempt to sway Humanity to the Light instead. When Armageddon comes the winner, and thus ruler of creation, will be determined by the armies both sides had accumulated through the eons leaving the more powerful demons and angels in Heaven and Hell, therefore the balance and Creation would be safe, otherwise everyone and everything would be erased from all existence, even God and Satan."

Naruto nods as he looks up at the stars within his mind. "So does anyone know what it will be like depending on which side wins?"

Bahamut smirks as he looks at his young friend. "Total happiness and harmony no matter who wins."

Naruto looks at him in shock. "How can demons have total happiness and harmony is they win?!"

Bahamut laughs as he looks at Naruto. "Simple, demons love combat, bloodshed and destruction. Thus if they win they have an entire 'playground' to do so in. For them that _is_ total happiness and harmony. The humans still in existence will be automatically altered and will live in that world as happy as if it was their own 'heaven'. Trust me, no one will be 'suffering' because it will be what they want, that is the way of Human nature. If the balance is shifted to one side humans shift with the balance, though the Natural Balance and order will be unaffected as life will continue and grow." Bahamut thinks for a second then nods. "What you don't know Naruto is that this is but one of many Universes, there are an infinite amount of Multiverses out there, some have been won already by Satan, and others have been won by God. And in every one I've ever been to that was one, not one person or being was sad or suffered. Hell I've met 'you' in other multiverse, and just so you know you are a Warlord in one, and a Holy priest in another. As well as many other things in others."

Kyuubi nods to her young Jinchuriki as he stares at the fire in amazement. "Then there are some, Naruto, that remain neutral even after Armageddon. Neither Angel nor Demon was able to sway the Humans or beings of those Universes. This Universe is beginning to look that way as well though many have been swayed, the balance has remained completely still, never swaying one way or another." Naruto grins at this but looks in confusion at the deep thought on Kyuubi's face. "In all honesty Naruto, this scares everyone in the Higher Ups. Not once in all the many billions of years of the War have any seen a universe with as much potential and power as this one has, ever. You alone are a testament to this. Your not even fifteen yet and you have such a tremendous power it's hard to imagine." Naruto looks into the fire again, his mind reeling at all the information he's being supplied with. "In all honesty Naruto, the Higher Ups think there is another power at work here, one that evidently laid dormant till the War arrived here. I know Satan and God both fear what this could mean. Is this new force good or evil, if either it could very well mean the end of the war and one or the other annihilated and all the multiverses turned completely to the other side."

Bahamut looks up at the stars and grins. "Oh you're more than right Kyuubi-chan, there is a new force at work on this Universe, but it's not just this one that has this force." Kyuubi whips her head at Bahamut so fast both men thought she'd break her neck. "Ever since the first Neutral world was established I've felt something. It was small at first but with each one it grew and grew. On this world I've felt it directing it's influence directly. It's a God Kyuubi, just like Satan and God, but it's completely neutral like those worlds. It cares not for good or evil but both, a complete mixture of both Satan and God, evenly balanced. In other words…"

Kyuubi's eyes widen as fear and amazement cover her face. "The Natural Balance of Creation has taken on sentient life other than remaining a simple natural order…"

Bahamut nods his head. "Exactly…And I believe I've figured out the 'how' as well." Kyuubi and Naruto lean forward to hear his explanation. "In the many eons this war has gone on we've output tremendous amounts of power, especially in the first salvos before the treaty was formed, but no one ever stopped to think what happened to the power once it was released and it's intended purpose succeeded. The answer is simple, it went back to the realm of the Gods where Balance reigns supreme. You've never heard of it Kyuubi, but I've actually been there. Among the summons I'm considered one of the greatest, but there I was merely a insignificant ant. There are two God Overlords, God and Satan, but beneath them are many weaker gods under their control. Every time a universe is overtaken a god from the Realm of the Gods is put there to oversee the needs of their followers while those two move to the next. What the two fail to realize is _something_ had to create _them_ as well, a supreme being more powerful than both, Balance. And to me it seems that Balance is very _very_ angry at this war in the Multiverse."

Kyuubi blanches at this, for if there was something more powerful than the two Overlord Gods, it could spell trouble. "Fuck…So what do you think Balance is doing Bahamut?"

Naruto looks at Kyuubi and snorts. "Isn't it obvious Kyuubi?" Both demons look at Naruto and he sighs. "You said this world holds more potential and power than any other before, that I'm a perfect example of this correct?" Kyuubi nods. "Then considering this Balance is all about balance of everything in general, then that means it/he/she wants to stop this War of the Titans and restore order to ALL the worlds, not just a few. Their building an army my friends, and my people will be a part of it, those who aren't converted to either good or evil. I can tell by the way I think." Naruto looks at the two in around the fire with him. "I believe that the truly evil must pay for their crimes, but that no matter how good a person is they shouldn't 'force' themselves on others to be like them. In other words, to be neutral is to be natural. Not all can accomplish this therefore people like me are created, to maintain the Balance. Animals understand this naturally and have neither good or evil within them unless corrupted by good or evil. They live, they eat, they create and that's it, but humans were given free will cause without good or evil balance is already upset with neutrality alone. Order is being destroyed since the way this war is waged there could be an over abundance of good or evil, which shifts the balance of Creation itself, which will destroy Creation. How God and Satan missed this little fact I do not know…"

Bahamut looks at his friend and smiles warmly. "I believe Naruto is on to something, though a little wrong in some aspects it's generally correct. Good and Evil will always exist no matter what, but like he said, when the balance shifts to one side or the other Balance itself awakens and does whatever it can to restore the Natural Order."

Kyuubi looks up to the stars and smiles. "I have a feeling things will be very different in the future my friends. Think about it, if all worlds end up neutral, then they will all have the same technical qualities of this one." She looks at Naruto and smiles wider. "And I think, considering the development of this kit, he will play one hell of a role in the War to come for Order." Bahamut nods at this and Naruto grins.

"Well Bahamut, Kyuubi, I just have one thing to ask. If what we think comes to pass, will you stand by my side to restore Order and stop this stupid war between Heaven and Hell?"

Bahamut laughs and gets up, kneeling before Naruto. "Lord Naruto, I'm a summon without a element, a creature of Balance by my very nature. I will follow you till the ends of time and am proud to say that my promise to you seems to be forever unfulfilled." Naruto grins at this and nods.

Kyuubi stands and kneels before Naruto as well. "Though I am technically an angel of God in demonic form, I too will follow you and help to restore Order." Naruto's grin widens as he looks at his two friends as they stand.

He puts his hands on both their shoulders, his grin never leaving his face. "If we are right, my friends, I think our first mission is stopping the War here in my Universe. But even that won't stop me from becoming Hokage!!" The two laugh at their young friend before they sit and talk of less important things, never knowing that Balance itself was smiling down at them and weaving the threads of fate, unseen to all. Though they were right in many aspects none of them knew the true fate It had in store for them all.

Orochimaru watches in amazement as Sasuke advances faster than when he first arrived. He could see in Sasuke's eyes that his motivating factor was fear. This confused Orochimaru seeing as Sasuke didn't fear him or his brother, so what insanely powerful creature would Sasuke fear? "Sasuke-kun!! Come here for a second…"

Sasuke slams his fist into a sound Shinobi, the last one of thirty he'd been fighting this round. "What is it?" Though his voice is cross Orochimaru still sees the fear in Sasuke's eyes, hidden well but not from his eyes. Sasuke approaches Orochimaru and Kabuto, whose mouth is open wide at the battle that just took place.

Orochimaru's eyes gaze deeply into the Sharingan, unsettling Sasuke slightly. "What do you fear Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes squint in fury. "NOTHING!! I have nothing to fear, even from you!!"

Oroshimaru's eye twitches slightly but he holds the Uchiha's gaze. "You're lying Sasuke-kun. You cannot hide your fear from me, but I know it is neither I nor your brother you fear. What is it?"

Sasuke's eyes lower to the ground, a sigh escaping his lips. "I felt him the other day, Naruto…" He looks up, and his fear breaks through his pride and visible to all. "He's gotten immensely powerful! S-so powerful…" Orochimaru frowns at the now quivering Uchiha. "I…I think he's gained control Orochimaru-sama…" Orochimaru's eyes widen at the –sama, Sasuke hadn't called him that even once before. "I think he gained control of Kyuubi completely, I…I felt his power from here, somewhere up North, and it was terrifying, so terrifying…I've never felt such power, even from my brother who I know can beat you…" Orochimaru winces at the truth of his limited power. "Is there no way I can make myself equal to him? Even a curse seal Lvl 3, if it existed, wouldn't be able to defeat him now…_You_ couldn't defeat him with a curse seal lvl 3…"

Orochimaru frowns, he had felt a tingling down his spine the other day, something he hadn't felt since his submission to the Uchiha when apart of the Akatsuki. "Tell me Sasuke, have you ever heard of how the Bloodlines started?" Sasuke shook his head. "It all started with the Sage Shinobi. When he died many bloodlines were created, but he wasn't the end of their creation. Many clans, including the Uchiha, found ways to start their own bloodlines. They did this by doing what you were reading in that scroll. They merged a demon within themselves giving them new and unusual powers. What most don't know is that all their descendents with those Bloodlines also have the ability to change into their half demon forms. Few ever accomplished this, most only acquiring a more advanced version of their bloodline, like the Uchiha's Magekyo Sharingan. When you acquired the Lvl 2 Curse Seal, you gained partial access to this ability. With your Seal, your transformation as well as other skills I can teach you, you should be on equal grounds with Naruto, if not I was already planning on teaching you suppression seals that will hinder his abilities."

Sasuke's grin began at demonic transformation, and grew and grew to a sinister smile as he imagined Naruto in all his glory and power kneeling before him in submission. "When can we start…" Kabuto shuddered at the positively evil look on Sasuke's face and realized Orochimaru would be unable to take over his body, and that someday he would either die by Sasuke's hand or follow the dark prince.

Orochimaru grinned, but deep inside he began having doubts about the young man before him, and a single unsettling thought crossed his mind. Uchiha Sasuke would surpass him, and he would not be able to take over his body. But an emotion he'd never felt before rushed through his veins, pride. Pride pushed fear to the side as unconsciously he swore to follow Sasuke when he did surpass him, and he would teach him _everything_ he knew, including his plans for immortality.

AN-Ohhhh, strange twist of shit ain't it? Well, review please, peace!!

JOHN


	18. Chapter 18

The Lost Guardians

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 18

WARNING!! It has been brought to my attention that some of my readers might be confused about the jumping around and fast advancements in time. I just want you to know I do time skips quite regularly if the things happening are just basic shit. I have ideas for the future and am trying to get there without boring my readers. If you wish for shorter time skips and more detail about the goings on of the characters by all means tell me and I will slow it down a pace or two. Sorry for any inconvenience. Also when the war starts I am an avid believer in goriness and detail, though I'm still working on my ability to write both lol. On another note, if you would like to be a beta for my story or stories let me know kk? That's all…

Ryuuki steps through the door to the Time Chamber, Naruto laying across his shoulder snoring loudly, only to be intercepted by Tenten and Kurenai as they take Naruto and fuss over him like mother hens. He looks up and sees all the Konoha Shinobi gathered and looking anxiously at the young Jinchuriki. "Don't worry, he's fine. He just tried a new ability an hour before it was time to leave, and it left him exhausted. Trust me though when I say he is IMMENSELY powerful ha haa!"

Kakashi looks up, an eye smile on his face. "Oh we know, we felt his power leaking through the door. And since you told us about the power suppression seals on the door then we knew the power behind the door was millions of times stronger." Ryuuki looks at the Hatake slack jawed. They'd felt the power _outside_ the door? He looks at the young man and grins. Damn…

Sakura walks over to the unconscious boy, stepping back as the two women hovering over him glare at her evilly. "Easy you two, I just want to run a diagnostic on him, see if there's anything I can do to help him." The two ease up and Sakura shuffles over, uncomfortable at the strangely mistrusting and protective looks from the two. She activates her diagnostic jutsu powering it with a little ki, placing her hand above his chest the aura slides over his whole body and tells her everything about his body right down to the genetic make up of his dna. "Ok, he has a couple of newly healed fractures in his bones, the same we all had when sparring, but other than that he's in perfect health, more so than any other human I've ever seen. Considering his unique qualities that's to be expected though." She turns to the two women and smiles. "Just get him home and let him sleep." At that she winks at the two who blush as their first thoughts of what to do when they got home are pushed savagely to the back of their minds in concern for his welfare.

Ryuuki smirks before frowning as he sees one of the Guardian Messengers rushing up the steps to the Time Chamber. "Ryuuki-sama, we've just got word that the army is nearing. At their present speed they'll be here within a week." The Shinobi look surprised before immediately making a list of all their needs. War was coming, and it was time to put up or shut up.

Ryuuki sits in the War Room of the tower, Naruto to his left and Kakashi seated to his right. Tenten and Kurenai stand at rigid attention behind Naruto. He looks around the round table at the various clan leaders and squadron leaders. "Our sources tell us that Chaos's army has stopped six miles from our walls. We are completely surrounded on all fronts. Gentlemen, the army is larger than anything we had expected. Our spies who were sent to estimate their numbers have not returned and it can be assumed they were caught and disposed of." He clasps his hands and places his chin against his thumbs. "Suffice it to say we are out match a thousand to one. Our saving grace is the quality of our soldiers and Guardians, though it is barely above the quality of their Shinobi."

Kakashi leans forward looking at the holographic map. "If my study of your village history is correct, this village faced greater armies with less soldiers than we currently have. What makes this situation different?"

Many of the people look at each other uncomfortably. Ryuuki simply sighs. "We've become weak Kakashi. Most of our soldiers today do not see the merit in learning both chakra and Ki since ki is so much more potent." He opens his eyes and glares into space. "Factor in the fact that the army includes the lower demons we've been fighting for generations, who have found ways of shielding themselves and other from our ki attacks, then that leads you to a severely limited attack plan." Kakashi gulps piecing together the puzzle pieces almost instantly.

Naruto however states what everyone is thinking. "In other words, we're boned if we meet them in a head to head attack. Factor in also that they have a fully powered Ten-tailed Jinchuriki possessed by the demon itself, and we're boned no matter what we do unless we come up with one _hell_ of a strategy." Ryuuki nods and sighs again.

"Two teams from Konoha, barely trained in ki, isn't enough. Naruto, with access to every scrap of power he can obtain, will barely be on an even level with Chaos and a very slim chance of winning. If we had more time we could have taught him the Bankai, either it would have thrown is over Chaos's power, or evened them up completely, but we don't have time for that now, the enemy is at our gates and WE-MUST-WIN!!"

Naruto nods and sits forward, Kyuubi and Bahamut telling him ideas along with a few of his own. "Well considering the placement of the walls and construction of the city, it seems our ancestors either saw us getting weaker, or were prepared for a more powerful force. From what I can see we should do this. Place your chunin level teams with strong ki and jutsu attacks on the first wall. Place squads behind the wall and we simply move back to the next wall. Here we place people with sniper attacks to cover the retreating soldiers with more squads behind that wall. At the last one place our strongest warriors. I suggest any Genjutsu users to be on the first wall as well and place a massive genjutsu on all incoming soldiers in the first Salvo. I don't know how you're armies work so that's all up to you guys." He sits back as everyone discusses his suggestions, making changes here and there with some of their own ideas thrown in, however his idea was widely accepted as the only strategy that could possibly work. They came up with back up plans and back up plans to the back up plans. Naruto thought of more things and soon their imminent defeat started looking hopeful for a win.

A dark figure looks down on the two opposing forces, his grin widening as he sees the people behind the wall shuffling around enhancing their defenses. He knew what was going to happen, war was their very being, he and his two brothers. **"Soon, my brother. Soon I will release you from your imprisonment…"** With a slow shuffle the dark figure starts moving towards the city, a small and frightened man following in his footsteps like a poor helpless dog.

Naruto stands atop one of the guard towers, his feet perched atop the spire on the top of the tower gazing across the land at the army visible to the naked eye of even the most untrained of men. "Bring it, we _will_ win assholes…" He looks down at the troops behind the wall as they set-up their weapons and catapults. The major ki users sparring with each other to get in last minute training.

The sun starts to rise as he looks down at the mobilizing towards the wall and he knew this was the case all around. An alarm sounds alerting all to the incoming army. Naruto looks down at the two females leaning against the tower walls. Leaping down he smirks at the two relaxed women. "So aren't you two worried that we could be defeated here?"

Kurenai looks at Tenten, both sharing a knowing smile before they wrap their arms around Naruto, he holding their waists possessively. "Mmmmm, not in the least Naruto-kun, why should we when we have the most powerful and wonderful Shinobi in the world on our side." Kurenai's comment makes Naruto smirk before he kisses both and lifts them in the air quickly flying to the tower and dropping both off in their sections of last stand defense. He flies up to the top of the central tower landing on the small platform meant for very long distance attack. He looks at Ryuuki and Kakashi, the only other occupants of the tower.

Ryuuki smirks at the lipstick on Naruto's lips, his smirk growing wider as Naruto realizes whats up and quickly wipes his mouth. "Ok then Naruto, now that you're done smooching. You remember the plan?"

Naruto nods before looking at Kakashi. "You sure you got enough ki for this Sensei?"

Kakashi smirks and nods. "Yeah, I got enough ki for two attack then I'll be running on my chakra till it fills back up. Though with this training I've gotten a lot more stamina and chakra so I'll be good even using the Sharingan."

Naruto nods then takes in a deep breath. "Ok. Now explain one more time why I need to access all my power before I take on Chaos?"

Ryuuki nods, knowing Naruto hadn't forgotten, he just wanted to keep the facts straight. "Chaos likes for his wars to be long, drawn out, bloody conflicts. However when he is attack or attacks he prefers to destroy his enemy immediately. Unlike many powerful beings he won't take the chance that his enemy might get a lucky hit in, therefore killing him or sealing him away again. He made that mistake with the Nine after all and he's learned from that mistake. If you attack him with your regular guardian form he'll kill you right off the bat before you get a chance to power up."

Naruto nods. "And you're sure he's here with his army?"

Here Ryuuki looks a little uncomfortable. "Well, he was, but ever since this morning something else seems to have blocked off my Sensory perception, as well as the Guardian Sensor Force. What does Kyuubi have to say about it?"

Naruto blinks and his face looks like he's far away for a moment before he grimaces. "She says that if it's not something worse, then he probably sent a 'Golem' instead of coming himself." Ryuuki and Kakashi look confused. "A Golem, when pertaining to the Nine and Chaos, is basically a 'fake him', it has 1/4th the power of the original, but all the techniques and skills that 1/4th will allow it to perform. If it was a Golem we've been sensing this whole time, then I'm going to need a LOT more training since we've all established I'm barely strong enough to be on even ground with him with all my power up abilities." Ryuuki's and Kakashi's faces are ashen at that fact, and a terrifying thought it was at that.

Lee stands atop the first wall a few soldiers down from Sheri. His face is grim but determined. This mission had done wonders at calming his 'Youthful Fire' down to a more dense and powerful roaring flame instead of the high pillar of fire. He had had it explained to him by Sheri during one of their break in the Time Chamber.

Flashback

Sheri was smiling happily at a yelling Lee as he went on about his 'Springtime of Youthful Fire' and called to him. He appeared next to Sheri instantly, a big grin on his face. "Lee-kun, tell me something. Which would you rather be, a huge bonfire or a small campfire?"

Lee looks confused for a second before proclaiming a bonfire so all could see his 'youthful vigor'. Sheri giggles but shakes her finger disapprovingly at Lee. "Wrong my handsome man. Think of this ancient saying from a nation long gone. 'He who builds roaring fire dies before winters end. He who has small fire lives forever'. Do you understand what this means?" Lee thinks for a minute and sadly shakes his head. "It means, my love, that if you make a huge fire you waste a lot of wood trying to keep it going eventually running out and you freeze to death. But if you make a fire just big enough to keep warm and use your wood wisely, your fire will continue to be and you'll stay warm all through the winter and survive. This can be put to many other things as well. You train almost nonstop, your muscles become abused and damaged, never reaching their full potential. You need to calm down, rest, let your muscles relax and sleep just as much as you need to train. You're still growing my love, you haven't reached your full growth yet, but when you do, if you continue at this pace you'll wear your body down, especially now that you have ki and know how to increase your muscles with that ki. In other words, you'll lose all of your 'Springtime of Youth' before you reach twenty five."

Lee stares in shock and looks down at his body, his face crestfallen and Sheri sees an instant change in his demeanor. "I know that Love. I've been realizing that for quite some time now, but I kept on no matter how exhausted I've been for my Sensei." Lee then told her about his sensei and his oath to make him the best ninja ever through Taijutsu alone or he'd quit his career as a Shinobi. "I care for him, he's the first to see my worth. But I've noticed we're a lot more different than I've wanted to admit." Lee looks at Sheri and grins in a very Narutoish way. "Heh to be honest, ever since I accessed my ki I have a feeling I've surpassed my Sensei, which is exhilarating but painful."

End

Lee looks down, his face more serious than anyone around him had seen. He'd made a name of himself here as one of the loudest but most powerful warrior in their midst. "Sheri…"

She nods and commands the soldiers to ready their attacks. The enemy army approaches, Lee crosses his arms staring them down, various war cries and demon roars approach making some of the soldiers glance at Lee, their platoon leader, questioningly. "HOLD!!" Sheri's command is given. The army moves closer, details on their outfits now becoming clearer and clearer. "HOLD!!"

Lee looked at the incoming army wondering what could make them rush into such a death certain situation, most of the men coming in the frontal charge were nothing more than cannon fodder he knew, but still. "Fire…" Various jutsu and ki attacks lashed out decimating the first few lines of soldiers, some of the ki attacks exploding so hard it killed soldiers even further back while other hit the ground and traveled along it further up into the enemy ranks before blowing. As the smoke cleared the survivors jumped up or screamed in pain at missing limbs and such. The ground was painted various colors from the blood of demons and men mixed, body parts still oozing whatever blood is left in them laid all around the battle field, but the next lines of soldiers continued, some of these demons activating strange light shields and ninja performing their own jutsu firing them at the warriors on top of the wall. "Bar the gate!!" Lee yelled to the soldiers below who pushed against the gate, some enhancing it with various earth jutsu. "Fire at will!!" Jutsu and ki attacks flew from the wall only to be intercepted by jutsu or ki shields. One Shinobi of the enemy rushed in escaping the incoming attack, his hands flashing through a set of seals. He pulls his hand to the side and thrusts it forward destroying the door and first barrier of the gate. The soldiers and Shinobi behind the gate flash through more seals enhancing it's defense.

Lee dodges a fire jutsu and throws a ki ball at the attacker grinning as the man cries out before being silenced. He jumps in the air flying slightly above the jutsu range pulling both hands to his sides charging two green ki balls before moving to his right and pushing the balls together making a bigger ball. "Green Beast BLITZBALL!!" He cries throwing it forward before spinning and kicking the ki ball sending it flying at an extreme velocity and exploding in a uproar of body parts and screams. "Fall back!! The soldiers and Guardians nod before firing a couple more Salvos and retreat, their hearts broken as they'd barely put a dent in the oncoming army even with Lee's signature attack.

Sakura rushes around the first wall grabbing wounded, her heart pounding, fear exuding from her in waves, even as Sheri and Lee flank her and help her out. "How are we gonna survive let alone win?"

Lee looks at Sakura and smiles his old smile. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, we won't let anything happen to you!!" Sakura gasps but merely looks forward, her face going from fear to annoyance to anger faster than an eye blink.

Ryuuki watches as enemy soldiers scale the walls in the distance of the first wall while the reinforced gate crashes down, a sigh escaping his lips. "Well at least the survivors got to the second wall. The snipers and first wall soldiers taking out as many as they can?" A Guardian Soldier appears next to Ryuuki and nods.

"Yes sir, everything is going according to plan."

Ryuuki watches as the enemy nears the cleared out section of sector 1. "Do it now…"

Kakashi nods as he points the first and middle fingers of his right hand and the empty section, a small bead of ki forming before a laser thin beam blasts from his finger hitting it's target and making the ki mines blast taking out a good portion of the invading army behind the wall. He watches as the second wall warriors fall back to the third, just as they had planned. "Ryuuki, it's time…"

Ryuuki smiles knowing Kakashi was simply getting him back for the ordering around he'd been going through lately. "Right…" Ryuuki flies up high, his hands above his head, a small black ball forming in his hands before floating upwards and expanding, lightning crackling around it's edge while chakra swirls inside at extreme velocities. "OMEGA THREE!!" He throws the ball towards the incoming army still outside the gates. The explosion is massive as winds rip at the wall itself, knocking the tops in at some places and ripping trees from their very roots around it.

Kakashi looks at the East wall now that the North wall is taken care of for now and runs through several seals forming the Chidori as it cheaps with lightning. He pushes chakra into his palm forming a ki blast as the Chidori is absorb by it making a long range Chidori. He throws the lightning ball at the army pushing against the Eastern wall's forces. He watches in prideful satisfaction as it explodes sending lightning bolts racing from soldier to soldier killing hundreds in the front line before losing power and velocity. He turns to see Ryuuki forming a Kamehameha before blasting the western attackers before turning to the south, Naruto's sector where they guessed Chaos, or his Golem, would attack from. His eyes widen as most of the army is in a semi circle around two specks. Using a Binocular jutsu he zooms in to see Naruto fighting a boy his age and shivers at the look of psychotic pleasure wrapped around the boys face.

Naruto looked at the incoming army, his sword unsheathed and ready. The soldiers with him taking strength from his confidence. "Hold your ground men, these assholes won't beat us!!" He cries to the soldiers behind and next to him. As soon as the words leave his lips a pressure settles on the group and Naruto's eyes snap to a boy in the back grinning maniacally at him. He grins as he leaps into the air as the first Salvos hit the enemy ranks. He lands in front of the continuously charging army and transform immediately to Guardian Lvl 2. The demons in the crowd pause in amazement since it'd been centuries since they'd seen a Guardian this powerful, but a word from the Higher ups have them charging blindly forward, only to be cut down no prob by Naruto as he moves towards the boy in back. Jutsu and demon techniques are thrown his way and each is knocked to the side like a man would swat a fly from his face. "Chaos…." He says low, his voice deep, his smile wide and sinister, his Saijin blood taking over his mind and making him seek a battle worthy of him. Demons and soldiers feel something behind them as they turn to look at their commander. The boy steps forward and for the first time Naruto sees him up close. Long spiky blue green hair falls to his waist, muscles the size of Naruto's in his current form ripple with power. His eyes are jet black all across and his teeth gleaming from his sadistic smile are all pointed and razor sharp. He wears full black ANBU styled clothes with a black trenchcoat cinched at the waist with a silver chain, an extra length of the chain hanging loosely from where it connects together. Another chain is locked on a ring at his right shoulder before winding around the arm and hanging from the wrist, a long length of it dragging across the ground. "CHAOS!!"

Chaos grins and steps forward till he's a mere five feet away. "Hello _Mother_, I know you can hear me in there. You think you can actually stop me with your pathetic weak vessel?" He starts laughing maniacally again as Naruto frowns and pulls all his power to the front in a blazing roar of power, the earth shaking as boulders and rocks are lifted into the air and crushed into dust. Chaos stops laughing and looks at the blue eyed blonde and hmms to himself. "There might be more to you than I thought. Ok, I've yet to have a good challenge in a while…"

**Master, fusion now!!**

'_No Bahamut, I want to test MY power first…'_ Bahamut shakes his head in Naruto's but says no more. It was Saijin nature after all to want to fight, and fight _hard_. "Well Chaos, how bout a quick warm-up?" He fazes from sight his fist plowing into Chaos's gut sending him careening into the soldiers behind him.

Chaos gets up easily from the crater and various broken bodies he spits some blood to the smile and grins. "Oh yeah, this will be fun Naruto-kun." Naruto smiles before both contestants faze from the naked eye. Crater form where they appear for a brief moment, an attack landing in the ground cratering the hard soil like it was simple dust. With a blast of power and wind the two reappeared with Chaos throwing punch after punch into Naruto's crossed defending arms. "RAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!" Chaos pulls his hand back charging a ball of chakra and ki and slams it into the surprised looking Naruto's face causing a huge explosion sending him flying back and through many of the armies soldiers, several in the direct line of contact exploding in pulpy masses of red. Naruto hits the ground gouging out the ground before coming to a stop. He leaps out of the small crater as a few body parts finally catch up to him, an arm slapping against his face leaving a red trail down his grinning visage.

Naruto attempts to wipe the soldier's blood off succeeding in only smearing it further. The grin never leaving his face he looks at Chaos's smiling face in the near distance and puts his hands to his sides. A Rasengan forms in both hands, one made from chakra, the other from ki. His grin widens as he flashes from sight and reappears behind Chaos. Taking the second of confusion offered by Chaos he slams both Rasengan intoChaos's back who flies further spinning in the air, the force of the dual Rasengan attack tearing up soldiers caught on the edges of the horizontal tornadoes. Naruto smiles at the enemy soldiers as they bleed out on the ground from missing limbs. He notices a couple of the are trying to pull their insides back in as their entrails hang from their abdomens like a grisly curtain of flesh and blood. Chaos appears in front of him slamming a fist into Naruto's hastily raised defense pushing Naruto back a few yards. The two stare at each other, both grinning widely. Chaos holds one arm as it hangs limp at his side, blood trailing down it slowly. "That's about it for me, how bout you?"

Chaos look at Naruto and stands straight, his wounded arm glowing a purplish black before he moves it and his uninjured hand to his sides. "Yeah, best warm-up I've had in millennia. So you ready Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah…" Naruto mimics Chaos's form pulling all his power to the front. Kyuubi's chakra and ki blast forth from Naruto joining his own chakra and ki. Gold, blue, red, and blood red all mix together in a grand show of power. However he looks at Chaos as he begins to power up. Within seconds he's beyond Naruto's level of power, making Naruto's eyes widen since he was pulling all of his power and every scrap of Kyuubi's power. Another second and Chaos stops, his power eclipsing Naruto's. Naruto frowns before smiling. "Fusion!!"

AN-Hey, tell me what ya think, in other words, review the damn thing lol!! Ciao!

JOHN


	19. Chapter 19

The Lost Guardians

The Lost Guardians

Chpt 19

All fighting around, and within, the walls of the Village Hidden in the Forest stops as two massive powers flare beyond anything anyone had ever felt before. One dark and pure evil rises higher than the one that feels strangely familiar to the denizens of the Village. Everyone's, ally and enemy alike, eyes widen as the non evil power suddenly skyrockets even further as a huge orb of white light jets to the skies, growing larger as it ascends to the heavens. With a flash the light flares into ki and chakra fire surrounding a massive six winged armored dragon wielding a sword and shield. Power unlike anything anyone, including Chaos, had ever felt before emanates from the dragon. Words echo across the land as the dragon states three words. _**"Come forth, RAGNAROK!!"**_ The simple katana shaped blade surges with power transforming into the two blade form of Naruto's released Zanpakto and almost doubling his total power. The enemy felt true fear for the first time during this campaign as a bead of sweat and a flash of fear crossed Chaos's face…

Ryuuki stares at the form of Neo Bahamut in the sky, his eyes wide at the power output; it was many _many_ times more powerful than when in the Time Chamber. With a sudden realization he puts together the pieces of the puzzle that had been drastically eluding him, and explained Naruto's confidence in fighting Chaos since the boy had felt no fear whatsoever. In the Time Chamber Naruto had used the fusion form after exhausting all his own power against Ragnarok, therefore the power felt when he fused was completely and totally the fusions own power minus Naruto's, in other words it was powered up to only half strength. Add in the fusions ability to ascend to it's own version of level two and calling on the strength of not only Naruto's full power but Kyuubi's as well, and they'd all completely underestimated Naruto's complete and total power. Ryuuki grinned as he lifted into the air followed closely by a stunned Kakashi. "We underestimated him didn't we Ryuuki-sama…"

Ryuuki looked at his companion and laughed a true heartfelt laugh as he pulls his hands to his side and forms a Kamehameha. "Aye, that we did Kakashi-kun, that we did."

Kakashi smiles crossing his hands over his head and leaning back, a red ball forming in his hands. "Well, that is how he got the title of 'Konoha's Number One Most Surprising Ninja'!!" Both smile as they launch their attacks at enemy forces below.

Tenten and Kurenai look up the mountain of power that is their Naruto, both grin broadly as they can feel from here that he far outclasses Chaos. They turn back to the standing and stunned enemy just outside the last wall. Both grin as they pull their arms to their sides, both having learned the Kamehameha when Naruto had learned it through their links with him. Dual voices screaming 'KamehameHAAA!!' catches the attention of the enemy, but it's too late as soldier and demon alike are slaughtered before the two, closely followed by platoons of allies, leap into the survivors and turn the tables almost instantly. The battle for survival had turned into a slaughter of the enemy troops.

Lee stands alone in front of a squad of injured and fallen comrades, Sakura and Sheri lying among the squad unconscious. Lee's face displays nothing but a determined refusal to fall. Cuts and burns cross his body worse than those behind him making both enemy and ally alike wonder if he was immortal or just plain stubborn. "You think you can stop us little human?" The enemies before him are all demon, their ki shields activated and ready, held in a tight barrier in front of them as they slowly form a semi circle around Lee and the fallen warriors he guards. "The end is probably near for our army with that behemoth of power against us, but we _will_ kill you and you're pathetic 'comrades' behind you before he gets here." Lee's eyes narrow. His determination and strength growing as his ki pulses with his thoughts of protecting his precious people.

'_Sensei, it is time…With this one move I will be defying your orders, but it's for a good cause…'_ Lee searches within his mind and finds the sixteen gates, his access to all eight gates of ki and only seven gates of chakra. His mental body flings itself forward pushing through the ki gates accessing seven before opening all seven chakra gates. One the outside Lee crouches, his hair rising in a powerful burst of power and wind, cratering the ground beneath him and lifting broken pieces of the ground from their earthy bed. His skin turns red and his veins pop out as usual from accessing the Eight Celestial Gates of chakra, but a brilliant silver as bright and powerful as the Guardian form flashes on the outside of the chakra fire. His eyes turn a bright white and seem to leak the white like tears of heaven. "**You shall not pass!!**" With that one phrase and the enormous amount of power pouring off Lee the demons step back in fear. One thought runs through everyone's mind. Just how powerful _are_ Konoha Shinobi?

Lee disappears from sight and for eight seconds no sign is seen before he reappears kneeling where he'd been before, his hand formed into the knife strike, and green blood dripping off the ends of his fingers and being lifted into the air with the force of his power. He stands, his hands dropping to his sides relaxed before his right lifts up, and he snaps his fingers. Green blood and ichor blasts from every demon in the vicinity. Cartilage, bone, and green blood flies through the air and the demons fall dead with various wounds and many having theirs heads and limbs fall cleanly cut from the body as if from a blade. "Konoha's Green Beast Secret Taijutsu Technique Number Two: Death of the Fallen One no Jutsu…" The Soldiers around Sheri and Sakura stare in amazement as two chakra based black feathered wings spread out from Lee's back and wrap around his body before sinking into it. Pain flashes across Lee's face as strange tattoos imprint themselves on his skin and flare a black evil looking color before fading away. "Shit, this is gonna hurt…" Lee's power dissipates immediately and he falls face first in the dirt, a look of excruciating pain flitting across his face.

Kakashi lands next to him a moment later, a sad look upon his face. "Damn… Gai is _so_ gonna be pissed when he learns of this…"

Chaos looks up at the high flying Neo Bahamut, dread and fear crossing his mind. Lord Chaos had not given this human vessel enough power to withstand that kind of ferocity and power. He was at his max of power the Ten tails had granted him, and it was nowhere near enough. Horror flashes across his face as the flying figure of power disappears and reappears in front of him instantly swinging his sword at his neck. He replaces himself with one of his soldiers and watches in fascinated horror as the man is cut in half, his entrails pouring from the bottom of his split torso. Neo Bahamut just rushes towards Chaos as if he hadn't just killed someone, unlike the Naruto of before who, even as he smiled, flinched at killing the soldiers. Chaos continues to dodge, using the replacement jutsu whenever an attack would land and he knew he was losing ground in this fight. He had to do something and he had to do it now or he would die. '_Lord Chaos!!_' He sends a mental call over the many miles of terrain to his Lord and Master.

**What is it human…**

'_Lord Chaos I beg of you, please give me more power!! T-this creature is too strong!!'_ The Ten Tailed Dragon of Chaos feels the distress in his human puppet and looks through the young mans eyes only to see the sword Ragnarok slashing towards the human and barely dodged in time. He feels the power coming from the armored dragon Neo Bahamut and frowns. This being was more powerful than Kyuubi and was close to his own power level. The only being he knew of that was like that was Kami himself and even he would only end in a stalemate if he and Kami fought. Yet the fact that this was not Kami was evident since he was a kind soul and would never get involved in a battle of such small proportions on the mortal realm. Chaos smiles in his lair as he sends his reply through the mental link.

**I'll do you one better mortal. Use this jutsu and he will be no more…**

The human Chaos smiles wickedly as his Lord sends a seal sequence and instructions on the jutsu, but fails to realize that his Lord did not tell him what the jutsu did so much was he blinded by his devotion.

Ryuuki appears in front of a staggering demon slamming a ki ball into the demons gut blasting it into a green viscous pulp. He looks around the clearing searching with his eyes and senses only to sigh in relief. This side was finished, the army completely destroyed in his sector. The soldiers around him cheer before he snaps an order to reinforce any wall that was still under attack and they vanish in compliance. A messenger appears to his left and informs him that Lee had cleared his sector. That left two sides still to defend. Trusting his brave soldiers to do their work he lifts and flies to Naruto's sector, hoping against hope that this nagging feeling in his gut would go away.

Tenten and Kurenai stand back to back with their platoon, only fifteen demons remained in their sector and they were glad of this. With a roar they and the soldiers launched forward throwing ki blasts at a rapid pace, many being taken by surprise at the sudden charge. With a few kunai, shuriken, ki blasts, genjutsu and various other attacks the demons fall like wheat before a scythe. The two smile at each other, the soldiers cheering around them, before a feeling of dread settles over their minds. Both women snap towards Naruto and immediately leap off to their beloved's position.

Naruto floats in a void of black surrounded by a bunch of circular chakra bands. His hands are touching two bands in front of him allowing him to access any technique his fusion can perform as well as downloading any strategy, tactic, and movement he's learned directly to Neo Bahamut's mind depending on any situation he gets in that Bahamut had not experienced before.

**Naruto-sama, Chaos is doing a seal sequence neither of us have encountered before.**

"_You're right, I've never seen that before. Quick! Use Aurora Blade before he finishes the seals!!_"

Neo Bahamut puts his blade to his side, three different colored orbs forming along the edge before he slashes forward, the balls merging together and forming an energy blade arcing forward towards Chaos just as he finishes the seals and grins, his body slashed diagonally in half right afterwards throwing blood all across the ground. The blood glows red before an enormous runic seal etches itself into the ground before flashing white. An enormous swirling hole opens in the air pulling a heavily resisting Neo Bahamut forward.

**NARUTO!! IT'S A WORM HOLE!! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE OR WE'LL BE TRANSPORTED TO ANOTHER DIMENSION!!**

Naruto's eyes widen and he feels his fusion slipping as he pumps all of his power into the fusion attempting to get out the gravity pull. Neo Bahamut seems to be ripped apart and pulled into the vortex leaving a Guardian form Lvl 2 Naruto struggling to walk against the pull, Kyuubi's chakra and ki flaring with his own. The ground cracks around his feet, pieces of the ground being lifted off and pulled into the swirling worm hole to a different dimension. Naruto's eyes widen as an invisible force slams into his whole body flinging him into the worm hole just as Ryuuki, Tenten, and Kurenai arrive on the scene to watch in horror as the one of the most important people in all their lives is sucked up and the hole closes leaving a behind a silence so deep you could cut it with a blunt rusty kunai. Tenten's and Kurenai's screams of rage, fear, and horror erupt and the army of demons and enemy Shinobi find themselves even more afraid than when Neo Bahamut was slaughtering their ranks in chase of Chaos.

Ryuuki watches in amazement as both transform into the Guardian form at an equal power level and begin decimating the enemy troops in a haze of anger. And he thanked whatever supreme beings out there that he was not among those enemy soldiers, especially when the girls ripped genitalia off and shoved it down the respective soldier's throat, and they did this multiple times…He shudders before looking at the empty air where the worm hole had been. "I know you're alive Grandson, otherwise the girls wouldn't have been able to pull on your power and transform… You better comeback or I'll beat your ass from here to Snake Way and beyond…"

The Guardians of the Village Hidden in the Forest and the Konoha Shinobi walk among the dead. Sakura sits on her knees in shock, stroking the hair of Kye's corpse, a smile plastered on his face and his lower body missing among the many body parts littering the ground. Silent tears escape her eyes as she stares off into the distance.

Kakashi kneels by her, his eye sad as he rubs her back. "He died the way he wanted to die Sakura, protecting his friends and precious people. The soldiers told me they were being over run and he ordered them to go while he stayed and covered their retreat. Be proud of his sacrifice, he died an honorable and noble death."

Sakura simply nods, a small sad smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. "I am proud of him Sensei, but he still broke his promise to me…" Kakashi looks at her confused. "He asked me to marry him once this was all over…"

Kakashi's eye widens before turning even sadder. He stands and walks away, knowing he had no words to console her, his own pain at losing Naruto to great for him to really think clearly. He sees Ryuuki talking to Tenten and Kurenai who look at him sharply, hope clearly on their faces. He rushes over as both girls run to him. "What? What's goin on?"

Tenten grabs his arm in excitement. "Naruto-kun's not dead!! Ryuu-sama said that if he was dead we wouldn't have been able o transform in the last fight after he was sucked up in that hole thing!!" Kurenai nods at Kakashi's stunned face before he too joins in their happiness.

Ryuuki steps forward and sighs. "The only thing I can think of is that he was sucked into another dimension, and we don't know how to get him back. It's up to him since the only places we can summon from is the Summoning Plane itself."

Kakashi frowns and then grins again. "Don't worry, it's painfully obvious we've been underestimating Naruto for years. I'm sure wherever he's at he'll find someway back, that I can guarantee." The others think and nod in agreement before they spread out and do their duties, dispatching any enemy survivors who were too far gone to save, and restraining the savable ones for questioning.

Ryuuki looks across his paper filled desk at Kakashi, a frown on his face. It's been two weeks since the attack and their intelligence reports say that the Ten tails is simply staying in his spot, where that is no one has yet to figure out. What was more troubling was that after the battle they had discovered someone had destroyed the seal on the Forbidden Chamber doors and destroyed the Eternal Guardians who had given up their souls to inhabit stone guardians for all eternity. Upon searching the Chamber they found a tablet that their researchers had translated.

'_Three were Banished,_

_Three were Sealed,_

_Baal the Lord of Destruction_

_Forever here shall he Lie'_

Upon further research they'd found that three demonic brothers from Makai, each who were as powerful as Satan himself or almost as powerful. The three had attempted a coup de tat that was quickly ended by the intervention of Kami/God's Army of Heaven. He realized that the brothers did not respect the Natural Balance and should they gain control of Makai they would end up destroying all of Creation.

And now Kakashi stood before him requesting for the Konoha Shinobi to return home. "Kakashi-san, I understand your urge to return home, believe me I do. But the mission is not over yet until Chaos is destroyed and Naruto returns from wherever it is he has gone." Ryuuki sighs, pulling a sheet of paper to him and examining its content. "How is Lee? Has he recovered yet from that strange technique I've heard so much about?"

Kakashi growls low in his throat startling Ryuuki who looks up. "You should know the answer to that Ryuuki-_sama_. You've had Sheri stay at his side since she regained consciousness!!"

Ryuuki looks at Kakashi quizzically. "I gave no such order Kakashi-san. Sheri has chosen Lee as her mate. With our families Bloodline that makes him her only loyalty and up most important concern. If I gave her an order to spy on Lee-kun or to kill him she'd try to kill me on the spot." Kakashi's eye widens at this revelation, his anger lowering a bit but suspicion still shows on his face. "To be honest, the only thing I've heard from Sheri was before the battle, when she informed me that she was going to be Lee's mate and would go back to Konoha with him when he leaves. Our families tradition and the laws of this village allow this since it's a major part of our bloodline."

Kakashi sits in the chair, thinking about the information and sighs. "Well, at least Konoha will be stronger because of this." Ryuuki nods in agreement, a helpless resignation to his fate evident on his face. "I'll take your explanation at face value, but it doesn't stop the fact that my team needs to return to Konoha. As you well know, Orochimaru and Sound are planning an invasion on Konoha, and since no word can reach us or be sent by us we need to return in case we are needed. With our new access to ki and our abilities, we will be instrumental in the War." Ryuuki nods, his theory on their reason to return turning into fact. "However…" Ryuuki looks up. "There is another more pressing reason to return…" Ryuuki's attention is full on Kakashi, making the Konoha Jounin squirm slightly under the older man's gaze. "Lee is my number one concern on returning Ryuuki-sama. The technique he used, 'Konoha's Green Beast Secret Taijutsu Technique Number Two: Death of the Fallen One no Jutsu', Gai told me about it once. No one has actually used the technique in a _long_ time. The technique calls on Lucifer the Fallen One, merging Lee and his soul with the Fallen One himself for a moment. It's said the separation of the two can be very painful. But for some reason it isn't leaving Lee, it seems to be merging completely with him…"

Ryuuki stares in amazement. "Oh shit….."

Kakashi nods his head, before grimacing. "There's something else too Ryuuki-sama…"

Ryuuki stands up slamming his hands on the desk. "How much more can there be?!"

Kakashi smiles widely, his eye turning into a big upside down U. "Oh this is good news not bad! Tenten is pregnant! And we're not absolutely one hundred percent sure but we believe Kurenai is as well!"

Ryuuki's face transfers from elated shock to complete and total happiness. "Why that's wonderful news!! And Naruto will be in for one hell of a surprise when he returns."

Fin

This is the last Chapter of The Lost Guardians. Keep on the look for the next installment 'A Lost Guardian: The Multiverse Journeys '. Ciao!!

John


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